


Sugar Dusted Sunsets

by seizethejongdae



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Explicit Language, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 02:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7995319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seizethejongdae/pseuds/seizethejongdae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun didn’t think he was going to enjoy his new job as a bakery cashier at all after having to drag himself out of bed at sunrise to go sell pastries. But, he quickly changed his mind after meeting cake artist Jongdae, whose insistence on feeding him his latest creations and whose sweet, curved smiles leave Sehun redder than the raspberries Jongdae likes to put in his scones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.  
  
This was what life would be like now for Oh Sehun, and it was already too much…because it was too _early_ for this, he thought tiredly as he forced himself to trudge wearily through the streets at such an ungodly hour. Though it was a bit past dawn, the sky was still streaked with brilliant orange stripes and faded red smudges that Sehun tried his best to focus on in order to stay awake.  
  
He had thought that perhaps a job working as a cash register would be relatively simple, so when Jongin had told him about a new cashier job that opened up in the local bakery, Sehun had applied, thinking that it wouldn’t be that hard or tiring. But it was only after the bakery’s owner had cheerfully offered him the job that Sehun began to feel a bit of regret, as his shift was so _early_.  
  
Yifan’s “Dawn to Dusk” bakery lived up to its name, and Sehun already wished after he had managed to tiredly crawl out of bed for his first day of work that he had looked for another job with more decent hours…sometime in the afternoon or something…  
  
And when he finally pushed past the spotless, shining glass doors, the little paint-splattered bell jingling and marking his arrival as he walked in, he realized something else was going to make it much too hard working here.  
  
The smell of delicious, fresh-baked pastries wafted throughout the store, and Sehun, who had skipped breakfast today in order to make it to work, was weak with hunger.  
  
“Sehun! Good morning! Can you help put these croissants into the display case while they’re still hot?” Yifan greeted Sehun as he walked out of the kitchen carrying a large tray of golden, flaky croissants that had Sehun’s stomach growling and grumbling in response.  
  
“Here, have one before you start. It doesn’t look like you ate yet,” Yifan chuckled as he set the tray down on a countertop and handed him a croissant he wrapped in a napkin.  
  
Sehun thanked him before biting the edge of the croissant and sighing to himself as it melted delightfully in his mouth, and as he tore a bit of the rest off with his hands revealing fluffy, soft layers of warm dough, Sehun realized he could get used to this…Of course he wouldn’t eat everything he had to sell, but he could just live with the knowledge that he had such easy access whenever he wanted to buy anything…and maybe Yifan would let him take home any extras they didn’t sell during the day.  
  
After finishing the rest of his croissant quickly, Sehun began working and slid open the glass door of the display case and neatly lined up the croissants and other baked goods Yifan continually brought out from the kitchen.  
  
But it still wasn’t _fair_. Sehun had to wake up early already and drag himself out of bed for this job only to be assaulted with delicious smells and beautiful chocolate chip muffins and scrumptious scones glistening with the pinch of sugar it was lightly dusted with and other beautiful pastries that tempted him from inside the case. Though, Sehun pushed these thoughts aside as Yifan’s bakery was officially open, the front bell continually jingling as customer after customer rushed in for some breakfast. Sehun found himself quickly rushing to fetch and ring up the customer’s orders while Yifan worked in his barista station brewing warm coffee and soothing tea and other drinks for the customers. It was hard at first, as Sehun was continually rushing back and forth and back and forth from the display to the cash register, scowling as he was forced to restart entering the order in the cash register after pressing a few wrong buttons a few wrong times, but he would get the hang of it he hoped…  
  
As the rush of today’s morning faded into the less busy afternoon, Yifan popped out from behind the counter, his apron lightly dusted with bits of grinded coffee, to interact with his customers, happily giving out free cookies to little kids that walked inside with their parents.  
  
Amused, Sehun couldn’t _believe_ what a completely different person Yifan had turned out to be. The first time Sehun had met him for his job interview, he had walked through those very same front doors and looked for someone named Yifan, expecting some older man with rosy, flour-dusted cheeks. So, when a young man with sharp, pointy eyebrows stood up to greet Sehun as he towered over him, all Sehun could possibly say or think was _oh_. Yifan was so _tall_ and his large hands could probably swat aside Sehun’s whole body if he wanted…But as soon as Yifan welcomed Sehun to his bakery and smiled, his whole face had lit up with genuine warmth and kindness that made Sehun relax immediately.  
  
And that was all anyone needed to know about Yifan, really.  
  
Even though he could easily slip into a scowl and a more threatening look to discourage any trouble that might manifest in the bakery, Yifan's occasionally intimidating looks were so _opposite_ of his true gentle self and his big heart, and Sehun was sure he would be a good boss that he wouldn’t mind at all working with.  
  
The only issue, however, was Yifan’s insistence on making Sehun smile more so his bakery would have a more…comforting and cozy ambience, as Yifan liked to put it.  
  
“You should smile more! Make someone’s day with your smile!” Yifan had said, digging his fingers under Sehun’s ribcage to tickle him.  
  
Sehun had burst into a fit of giggles, swatting Yifan weakly to make him stop, but had tried afterwards at least to smile more.  
  
“Are you going to keep tickling me all the time to get me to keep smiling for your customers,” Sehun said afterwards, his smile dropping off his face as he asked Yifan curiously. Smiling was tiring when he had no reason to. And he always felt that whenever he had to smile, it felt too…unnatural or fake.  
  
“What if I do?” Yifan joked as he filled a coffee pot with freshly made coffee, “And then what if I accidentally burn you with the coffee in the process?”  
  
“What if you burn yourself,” Sehun snorted.  
  
“…True…Jongdae had to run and get lots of ice the last time,” Yifan winced.  
  
Who?  
  
Sehun was just about to ask who this Jongdae was and on what unfortunate circumstance did Yifan burn himself before Yifan proposed a different solution.  
  
“What if I just stand here and smile at you? Would you smile back?” Yifan asked, walking in front of Sehun and carefully making sure he had a strong grasp on the coffee pot.  
  
“I don’t know. You can try,” Sehun shrugged, letting whoever Jongdae was fade from his mind as he focused on Yifan.  
  
Yifan nodded thoughtfully before smiling so brilliantly at Sehun, his eyes crinkling and his face relaxing into a sweet look, that Sehun couldn’t help but smile back. It was a close-lipped smile, but still a smile. A genuine smile.  
  
“See? You have a cute smile, so you should show the customers more!” Yifan happily said before moving out to the customers and asking if any of them wanted anymore coffee.  
  
Yifan would be a good, kind boss.  
  
And after a long day punctuated with a couple of decent breaks, Sehun bid farewell to Yifan until tomorrow and headed home with the disappearing sun keeping him company as its fiery streaks raged rampantly across the sky, protesting its removal from the sky as the night and its glowing moon and dazzling stars slowly began force it out of the sky for the day.  
  
His job would be alright, Sehun supposed.  
  
His job would be a bit difficult, Sehun realized as he showed up to work the next day and finally met Kyungsoo, the baker who tirelessly worked so hard to continually bake batches after batches of the baked goods Sehun sold. After Yifan was nowhere to be seen in the morning when Sehun walked in the store, Sehun curiously stepped into the kitchen to look for him only to be met with a batter-caked whisk pointed accusingly at his face.  
  
“If you’re a customer, we haven’t officially opened up yet, so I have no idea why you’re in _here_ of all places. Step out of my kitchen now,” the baker said threateningly.  
  
“I’m Sehun? I work here now as the cashier,” Sehun said, looking past into the immaculate kitchen that smelled so wonderfully, the aromas of sweet vanilla and baking pastries combining delightfully with the warmth of the kitchen ovens to create a cozy atmosphere Sehun wouldn’t mind staying longer in.  
  
“Oh…Right. Yifan told me about you. I’m Kyungsoo the head baker, and you need to step out of my kitchen before you knock over anything or get my floors dirty,” Kyungsoo said, gesturing to the door before a timer beeped.  
  
“Do you need help with that?” Sehun asked, wanting to at least attempt to be on good terms with Kyungsoo if he was to see him so often.  
  
Kyungsoo looked around for Yifan before sighing and motioning Sehun to help him pull out trays of piping hot muffins with little chocolate chips oozing out of the steaming tops. The two of them quickly placed the trays on the cooling racks before Kyungsoo immediately went back to work, muttering about how he wished someone whose name Sehun couldn’t quite catch was here so he wouldn’t have to worry about everything burning and so he wouldn’t have to take half an hour to decorate what the other person could do in half the time.  
  
Sehun’s stomach couldn’t help but growl once again as he eyed the racks of muffins and scones.  
  
“Did you eat yet today?” Kyungsoo said, not looking up from his mixing bowl as he easily cracked three eggs into it at once.  
  
“…No,” Sehun admitted. Today he woke up a bit later than usual, and again, he couldn’t find the time to even grab a bagel or something before he rushed out of his house with a jacket half on and his mind screaming that it was much too _early_ for this.  
  
“Here,” Kyungsoo glared at him before walking to the cooling racks, picked up something with the hanging tongs, and thrust a raspberry scone at him telling to eat before he even _thought_ about picking at the muffins before they cooled.  
  
Thanking him, Sehun bit into the warm, flaky scone bursting with raspberries as he waited for the rest of the racks to cool so he could place all the pastries Kyungsoo baked today into the glass display case. Finally, Yifan returned from wherever he went and peeked his head into the kitchen.  
  
“Hey, Jongdae says he’s basically over his cold so he’ll be back tomorrow,” Yifan announced as Kyungsoo all but slumped from relief.  
  
“ _Good_. We have all those extra cake orders he needs to decorate soon anyways, and I was prepared to break into his house and nurse him back to health myself if he didn’t show up soon,” Kyungsoo sighed as he whisked the eggs in the bowl before adding a careful amount of vanilla extract to whatever he was baking.  
  
“I know, I know…Our cupcakes and cakes and other pastries have been suffering without him to decorate them.  
  
“…Jongdae?” Sehun asked, curious if that was the person Kyungsoo had vaguely mentioned before and if it was the same Jongdae that Yifan mentioned in passing before as well. The name rolled off of his tongue wonderfully along with the lingering taste of sweet raspberries.  
  
“Oh that’s right…You haven’t met him yet since he’s been sick, but he’s our decorator. I mean, he also helps Kyungsoo bake, but mostly he just handles all the frosting and fondant and helps garnish the rest of the pastries with powdered sugar or whatever else is needed. You’ll get to meet him tomorrow,” Yifan said as he peered at the bottom trays before taking some out to the front of the store.  
  
Sehun nodded, grabbing a few more trays to help Yifan bring them out before quickly placing the pastries and sweets into their proper places before the morning stampede of customers would hurry in to grab their coffee and breakfast before heading out to wherever they were going at such an early hour of the day. He could meet Jongdae tomorrow, and so for now, he pushed the name and the man away from his mind as he greeted the first customer with an attempted smile and took her order.  
  
Mornings were the worst, honestly.  
  
Everyone was rushing, rushing, rushing to get whatever they needed and get out, and so Sehun was always rushing, rushing, rushing to retrieve their orders before sending them on their way as quickly as possible.  
  
Afternoons were boring, though.  
  
Tomorrow had appeared quickly enough, as Sehun found himself on the third day of work bored between the afternoon hours of the day when the customers trickled in whenever they pleased and when no one was in the rush to do anything.  
  
So here he was, leaning against the counter waiting for someone…anyone else to come in as he stared at the beautifully painted walls of Yifan’s bakery. Someone had carefully taken the time to hand paint all the walls to reflect a cyclical progression of the day to night, and Sehun admired the careful brush strokes and the magnificent way the bold reds and soft oranges hues of the sunrises and sunsets faded into the brilliant light of day.  
  
Although, as soon as dusk faded into the evening with the acrylic paints rapidly increasing the intensity of their dark color, even to Sehun’s un-artistically trained eye, the painting styles looked…different. Instead of the previously careful and masterfully eloquent brushstrokes that dominated the painted morning and daytime scenery, wild, erratic brushstrokes painted the dark nighttime and the cosmic galaxies and the glittering stars that spread out across the right wall.  
  
But little cartoonish figures and more…abstract drawings floated around, and intrigued, Sehun found himself walking away from the counter to examine the paintings up close. He stared at what looked like some…four-legged animal before finding a signature near the bottom curves of the figure.  
  
Yifan.  
  
Ah….Of course. That would explain it very well.  
  
But who painted the rest of it?  
  
Ignoring the stares from the seated customers, Sehun followed the painted walls backwards, tracing a finger past the orange sunsets of the evening until he reached the beginning sunrise and found a messy signature in the corner.  
  
Bending down to read it, Sehun traced the signature with a curious finger as he tried to read the loops and curls of it.  
  
Jongdae.  
  
Oh!  
  
Jongdae? Wasn’t he supposed to be here anyways? Sehun checked his phone briefly for the time…It was a bit late in the afternoon, and while yesterday Yifan promised Jongdae would be here tomorrow, here was today with the man in question nowhere to be seen…  
  
Until the bells of the front doors jingled, loudly signaling the arrival of someone. Startled by the abrupt break in silence, Sehun stumbled on the chair behind him and fell to the ground before he saw a pair of bright red converse walk towards his direction before stopping right at Sehun.  
  
“Are you alright down there?” the person asked, his voice sounding a bit muffled.  
  
“Yeah, thanks…” Sehun said before scrambling off of the floor only to be met face to face with a pair of beautiful brown eyes that looked at him curiously.  
  
“Isn’t it a bit hot to be wearing a hundred scarves?” Sehun asked, gazing at all those scarves that covered a bit more than half the man’s face.  
  
The man muttered something muffled about not only being cold but having a bit of the cold before unraveling the scarves from his face. When he pulled off the final scarf from his face, Sehun felt as if he was back stumbled and dazed on the floor again because he was so _beautiful_. The man ran a hand through his messy brown hair before offering Sehun a warm smile with those cutely curved lips of his that made Sehun want to melt faster than all the chocolate chips Kyungsoo melted for Fondue Fridays.  
  
“Are you a customer? I can grab you something if you’re waiting to be helped since…it looks like no one’s at the cash register right now,” The man smiled as he looked over to Sehun’s abandoned cash register.  
  
“I…I’m supposed to be at the cash register now,” Sehun sheepishly admitted, “I just started here a couple days ago, but no one’s been coming in for a bit so—“  
  
“Oh! You’re Sehun then? That’s right…Yifan told me about you! I’m Jongdae the cake artist and decorator. It’s nice to meet you,” Jongdae smiled offering a hand to Sehun.  
  
Jongdae?  
  
_Oh_.  
  
That was Jongdae?  
  
_Oh no_.  
  
Sehun was willing to put up with waking up early to drag himself all the way to the bakery to start his job at such an ungodly hour. He was even willing to work next to those deliciously enticing pastries and cakes and beignets and everything in between that tempted him every day as he piled them into the glass case.  
  
But now…this.  
  
But now… _Jongdae_.  
  
Sehun didn’t think he would be able to work next to Jongdae if he looked this cute. And he already cursed everything from himself for listening to Jongin and applying for this job to Yifan who had decided to hire him. Sehun was a good person. Most of the time…But he was a good person, he liked to think, so he couldn’t understand what powerful force had decided to frustratingly complicate Sehun’s life even further by making him work side by side with such a beautiful person.  
  
He was already so affected…feeling a warm red blush that stained his cheeks as he nervously shook Jongdae’s outreached hand and offered a timid smile back.  
  
This was going to be so difficult and distracting.  
  
But as his first few weeks working here flew by, Sehun realized this was difficult and distracting in an entirely different manner because he had simply forgotten that Jongdae worked in the kitchen….and he was out here….separated from him.  
  
So Sehun found himself grumbling and pouting because he had, for some reason, decided to drag himself out of bed earlier and earlier and earlier to go to the bakery to say good morning to Jongdae and talk with him a little before Jongdae disappeared into the kitchen for the whole day excluding breaks in order to start baking and Sehun disappeared into the front of the bakery for the whole day excluding breaks in order to start helping customers.  
  
Jongdae’s morning smiles that he greeted Sehun with and his evening smiles that he bade farewell Sehun with were always the same…forever beautiful and forever causing Sehun’s heart to blaze hotter and redder than all the suns in the galaxy. He really wished he could see Jongdae more and talk with him more, but it was just not _fair_ when he was out in the store and Jongdae was inside the kitchen with no one but Kyungsoo for company.  
  


ϟ

  
“Jongin, you got me into this mess. What am I supposed to do?” Sehun complained one day after the two of them had shared a dinner together.  
  
“Well just go visit him during your breaks then,” Jongin said, munching on some leftover cupcakes Sehun brought home from work.  
  
“That’s…not a bad idea. But I’m not allowed to step in the kitchen because of Kyungsoo, though,” Sehun said.  
  
“Just go there anyways…But see? Where would you be without me?” Jongin said, licking the corner of his lips in order to get the last bits of the pomegranate frosting off of his mouth.  
  
“If I didn’t listen to you and refused to apply for this job, then I wouldn’t be having this dilemma,” Sehun pouted before taking the last cupcake from the table.  
  
“Hey those cupcakes are really good, though...and really pretty. It’s really nicely decorated, too,” Jongin said appreciatively, examining the half-eaten cupcake he held in his hand.  
  
“Yeah… _Jongdae_ decorates them,” Sehun sighed while peeling back the cupcake wrapping before he took a blissful bite, enjoying the smooth texture and the sweet taste of the frosting Jongdae had so painstakingly piped onto the cupcake.  
  
“Alright go talk to Jongdae and see if you can bring me some extra cupcakes then,” Jongin smiled.  
  
Sehun grumbly promised to do so if he even got the _chance_.  
  
And so the next day, Yifan came to take over for Sehun in case any customers came while he took his break. When Sehun headed for the kitchen, Yifan remained silent, but raised a pointed, knowing eyebrow instead.  
  
Before even placing a single foot in the kitchen, Sehun was met with a grumbly Kyungsoo who firmly told him to get out.  
  
“Aw Kyungsoo, it’s only Sehun though!” Jongdae said, immediately defending Sehun, “He works here so shouldn’t he be able to come here whenever he wants?”  
  
“…If he breaks anything or spills anything, you’ll have to replace or fix it or I’ll stick your head in the oven myself the next time we make soufflés,” Kyungsoo said before turning back to carefully measure the precise amount of flour he needed for whatever he was baking this time.  
  
“Kyungsoo, we don’t even make soufflés here,” Jongdae laughed, the sparkling sound sending tremors into Sehun’s heart. Kyungsoo simply glared at him once more before turning his back on them and going back to work.  
  
“Ignore him, alright? What do you need?” Jongdae smiled Sehun while wiping his hands on his apron.  
  
“I…was on break so I just wanted…to say hello,” Sehun tried to say before Jongdae beamed and motioned for him to sit with him at the kitchen table, dusty with flour and messy with scattered cookie cutters and other assorted things.  
  
“Hello, Sehun. Do you want anything to eat? We’ve got—“ Jongdae said.  
  
“He can’t eat everything we make, Jongdae,” Kyungsoo interrupted from the other side of the room.  
  
“Sehun’s not going to eat everything, Kyungsoo, and we don’t even sell everything we make sometimes,” Jongdae shot back before turning his attention back to Sehun.  
  
“Yeah, Yifan let me bring back some extra cupcakes one day, and my friend Jongin said he really loved them,” Sehun said.  
  
“Really?” Kyungsoo said, and though his back was turned to them, Jongdae and Sehun could both hear the delight in Kyungsoo’s voice and envision the small smile he was probably hiding right now.  
  
“Kyungsoo, go back to baking and stop interrupting us please? Besides…Sehun didn’t come to visit _you_ on his own break,” Jongdae teased before Kyungsoo sighed and openly wondered why he had to work with such a loud, disrespectful cake artist.  
  
“Anyways…Try this cookie,” Jongdae told Sehun before thrusting a napkin-wrapped cookie he had picked up in front of Sehun’s face.  
  
“Thanks,” Sehun said taking the cookie and biting into it curiously. It melted pleasantly in his mouth, and the taste of the warm chocolate chips oozed delightfully.  
  
“It’s really good,” Sehun smiled.  
  
The two of them continued to talk, and Sehun quickly found that Jongdae not only loved to paint with piping tips and frosting, but also with paintbrushes and acrylic paint. And Jongdae also wanted to open his own cake store someday, he loved fresh raspberries, and loved sunsets more than sunrises even though he thought both were breathtakingly beautiful.  
  
“When the sun disappears from the sky, it feels like you’re stuck between today and tomorrow. Today’s sunset is sort of like…a promise. A promise that tomorrow’s sunrise will happen…or a promise that tomorrow will happen, that anything can happen,” Jongdae explained.  
  
“Morrowday,” Sehun mused in response.  
  
“Yes, Morrowday,” Jongdae laughed, “But sunrises are beautiful too….the sun finally has a chance to chase the moon and the stars out of the sky and bring today to the world.”  
  
“But it’s too early to appreciate the sunrise anyways,” Sehun said, recalling how he’d simply ignore the beautiful sky as he tiredly walked to work.  
  
“You should sleep more then!” Jongdae said, observing Sehun’s dark circles concernedly, “Your shift doesn’t start until we open, so you should just come later!”  
  
“But in the morning before you work I want to see you,” Sehun said before widening his eyes and catching himself, “….And Yifan…And Kyungsoo.”  
  
“You’re so _cute_ ,” Jongdae smiled, causing Sehun to blush a vivid red that would have put the sunset Jongdae loved so much to complete shame.  
  
After Sehun’s break ended, he went back to his cash register feeling proud that he managed to hold a good conversation with Jongdae, and so he began to spend the rest of his shift smiling to himself while thinking of the way Jongdae’s lips seemed perpetually curved upwards and the way his laughter filled the whole room with vibrant joy.  
  
“You’re smiling more,” Yifan noticed, “I’m glad.”  
  
“Yeah?” Sehun smiled before he cheerfully greeted the next customer.  
  
“Yeah. It’s good you’ve found other ways to smile so wonderfully…Imagine if I had to tickle you again,” Yifan chuckled before placing his coffee pot onto the counter before attempting to tickle Sehun again.  
  
Expecting this, Sehun leaped back in protest, threatening to spill all of Yifan’s freshly brewed coffee in the sink if he didn’t let him live. Yifan raised his hands in defeat and went back to his side of the counter, though it was Sehun’s turn to notice Yifan’s more…knowing smile.  
  
What he didn’t expect, however, was Jongdae visiting Sehun on his own break, bringing with him a mysterious purple square.  
  
“Hey, I’m experimenting with new flavors. Try some and tell me what you think?” Jongdae said.  
  
“My hands are dirty from handling the money though,” Sehun said after handing a woman her bag of pastries and her change.  
  
“Ah that’s okay! I’ll feed you then, Jongdae said hopping onto the counter to equalize the height difference between them, and before Sehun could protest, Jongdae had pushed the purple bar right to his lips.  
  
Sehun slowly took a bite, not quite knowing to do with the knowledge that Jongdae was _feeding_ him…But he realized that he was supposed to give an answer, as Jongdae looked expectantly at him and lowered the square from Sehun’s mouth a bit, waiting for Sehun’s response.  
  
“I really like it! What flavor is it?” Sehun asked Jongdae, trying to figure out what fruits could have possibly combined to create the delightfully tart but still sweet, sweet taste.  
  
“Pomegranates and dragonfruit. They’re in season now, so I wanted to try and do something with them…I’m glad you like that!” Jongdae said happily, pleased his newest creation was successful. He pushed the purple bar back in front of Sehun’s mouth for him to eat more.  
  
“Do you make new flavors often?” Sehun asked before taking another bite.  
  
“Sometimes…There isn’t much time to do everything, but I like creating now flavors we could use here…Before I got sick I was trying out some maple syrup and walnut frosting. That went better than I expected honestly,” Jongdae said, quickly taking a napkin off the countertop to gently wipe a few stray crumbs from Sehun’s lips. Sehun quickly credited the way his heart started beating faster and faster and the way his breath hitched in his throat to the abrupt wailing of the smoke detector and certainly not Jongdae.  
  
A shrill yell suddenly mixed with the piercing sound of the smoke detector echoed from the kitchen, and Jongdae looked concernedly into the direction of the kitchen before placing the purple bar onto a napkin next to Sehun.  
  
“That…doesn’t sound good. I should probably go help Kyungsoo with that…but I’ll come back next break okay?” Jongdae promised before hopping off of the counter and rushing back to the kitchen to help Kyungsoo with whatever urgent matter had arisen.  
  
Sehun nodded, already glancing at the clock to figure out the next time Jongdae would come visit before carefully holding the bar Jongdae left with the napkins so he could take a quick bite before continuing to work. The sweetly tart taste of Jongdae’s pastry easily lifted his lips upwards as he assured the customers next in line that there was no reason to worry about the current state of the kitchen and that the smoke gently bellowing out of it was completely normal, yes.  
  
But Sehun couldn’t wait that long for Jongdae to come back, really, so the next time he had a break or the next time Yifan was kind enough to let him take a few minutes off when no new customers arrived, Sehun snuck into the kitchen to visit Jongdae.  
  
It turned out, though, that Kyungsoo had accidentally set the timer a bit too inaccurately for several of the ovens, so after much more than the seventeen minutes needed for the macaron shells to bake, he had set off the smoke detectors after the neatly piped batter had been burnt to crispy coals. Now, Jongdae and Kyungsoo were busy rushing around the kitchen to remake and rebake the burnt batches as well as to keep up with the current orders while they cursed Yifan for creating monthly Macaron Monday.  
  
“Sehun, could you please hold this and mix it for a bit?” Jongdae breathlessly said when he saw Sehun peeking through the door, pushing a mixing bowl and a whisk towards him.  
  
“Sure?” Sehun said, latching onto the bowl and standing confusedly in the chaos around him. Jongdae and Kyungsoo looked quite disheveled, each looking tired and flustered as they rushed through the kitchen with flour-streaked faces and unknown, pink cake mix splattered across their aprons.  
  
“Sehun, we don’t have time for this. Mix or get ou—“ Kyungsoo impatiently began to say as he peered into the oven, cursing that technology had not advanced nearly enough for baking to be faster and quicker.  
  
“Shh…Kyungsoo, I know this is a stressful situation, but be nice okay?” Jongdae said, pressing floury fingers against Kyungsoo’s mouth to make him hush. Kyungsoo spluttered before angrily turning around and going back to pouring batter into a pan, swearing that Jongdae was lucky there wasn’t any time or room left in the ovens for Kyungsoo to shove him in.  
  
Sehun diligently tried his best to mix the batter, realizing that it wasn’t that…hard even though the only thing he had ever attempted to bake were cookies when he and Jongin were twelve and hungry.  
  
Even though his break had finished a long time ago, Jongdae and Kyungsoo kept him in the kitchen, thrusting timers for him to set and batter to mix and flour to measure. Yifan poked his head inside wondering where Sehun went once, only to wish him good luck for his first time in the kitchen, promising he’d cover Sehun’s station while he helped in here.  
  
The work wasn’t hard, necessarily, but it was tiring, and Sehun was grateful when the sun began to set, marking the beginning of the end of today and the coming of tomorrow.  
  
“Get home safely, okay? I have to stay and clean up, but I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for helping us today,” Jongdae said before reaching upwards to pat Sehun’s shoulder with floury hands.  
  
“It’s okay…I can stay and help you clean up,” Sehun said, thinking of how exhausted Jongdae and the others must feel after today.  
  
“No, no. I’ll make Yifan drag you out,” Jongdae frowned, crossing his arms.  
  
“I’m not afraid of him. Have you _seen_ him give out cookies to kids? How is a man like that supposed to drag me out of a store?” Sehun pouted.  
  
“You’re right…and Yifan’s too weak, too…So I’ll just drag you out myself then,” Jongdae laughed, pushing Sehun towards the door. And no matter how hard Sehun resisted, he just couldn’t _win_. Jongdae was stronger than his tiny self looked, and Sehun was immediately so distracted with the wonderful way Jongdae’s biceps must have looked under his sweaters that he found himself suddenly outside the bakery and locked out while a triumphant Jongdae smirked behind glass doors.  
  
“ _Hey_!” Sehun protested, rushing to pull the doors he already knew were locked.  
  
“Tomorrow! Come tomorrow! I’ll be here so you can fight me if you want after that,” Jongdae smiled.  
  
“Fine…But I don’t want to fight you! I just wanted to help,” Sehun sighed.  
  
“Tomorrow. Look forward to tomorrow…Look for me tomorrow,” Jongdae smiled, waving goodbye at Sehun. Resigned to his fate, Sehun sighed and waved back before heading home.  
  
Tomorrow was not many hours away, but to Sehun, it felt like an eternity. And so Sehun forgot about the yesterdays, finished living the todays, and looked forward to the tomorrows. Anything could happen tomorrow, and maybe Sehun would win tomorrow. Maybe the sun would fall out of the sky tomorrow. Who knows? But as long as Jongdae was in his tomorrows forever, Sehun wouldn’t mind waking up early, working long hours, or thoroughly exhausting himself throughout the day.  
  
And so tomorrow came soon enough as Sehun again walked tiredly to the bakery as quick as he could while the sun lazily tore through the sky to mark the start of a new day, painting the sky with streaks of soft orange and wispy pink.  
  
After greeting Yifan with a good morning, Sehun rushed to the kitchen to find Kyungsoo checking on something in the oven and Jongdae diligently piping away glazed frosting on cinnamon bun rolls that were waiting to bake.  
  
“Good Morning, Sehun. Have you eaten anything yet?” Jongdae asked Sehun, straightening up to smile so beautifully and to greet Sehun properly.  
  
“I…” Sehun began to say, suddenly lost in the way Jongdae’s eyes crinkled upwards to look at him so kindly and welcomingly.  
  
“He always comes here and eats what we make,” Kyungsoo snorted before telling Sehun that there were some croissants on the bottom rack if Sehun wanted.  
  
“Stop trying to feed him your croissants every day,” Jongdae protested.  
  
“Feed him _your_ croissants then,” Kyungsoo threw back before Sehun found a dusty pink blush forming across his face for some unfathomable reason.  
  
“ _Mine_ are still baking so they aren’t cooked enough or thick enough yet. They’ve just been put in the oven, too, so I highly doubt that they’ve risen properly, too,” Jongdae innocently said. Mortified at the exchange, Sehun weakly mumbled that muffins or anything at this point would be fine. It was far too _early_ for this oh god…  
  
“Oh, sorry…You must be starving. Here…Have a raspberry muffin,” Jongdae said, fetching a pastry with bits of sugar sprinkled on top.  
  
“Thank you…Did you eat yet, too?” Sehun asked, accepting the muffin gratefully.  
  
“A bit…Just a bite of stuff here and there,” Jongdae said while motioning for Sehun to eat up.  
  
“So eat with me,” Sehun said breaking the pastry in half and offering Jongdae one half.  
  
“That’s very thoughtful of you Sehun, but you should eat the whole thing so you’ll have enough energy to start today,” Jongdae smiled.  
  
“I already broke a piece off…So you _have_ to eat it,” Sehun argued, waving the piece in front of Jongdae’s face. Kyungsoo sighed and swore to eat both halves if none of them ate it in three seconds or less.  
  
“Fine, fine,” Jongdae gave in, accepting the other half gratefully. The two of them ate quickly together before it was time for the store to officially open and Sehun was forced to leave the warmth of the kitchen and Jongdae to greet and serve the customers outside.  
  
Working with Yifan outside in the front of the bakery was nice enough, but Sehun looked forward to the breaks so he could disappear into the kitchen and seek out Jongdae’s company. Whenever he sat in the kitchen during his breaks, Sehun quickly found that Jongdae hummed a lot while he worked, and sometimes when Kyungsoo was in a good mood, they’d sing together a bit, too. Also, as he had been pleasantly noticing more recently, Jongdae had spent more and more of his breaks with Sehun as well, opting to feed Sehun his latest created flavor while talking about anything and everything.  
  
And Jongdae’s fingers always seemed to be moving somehow, always tapping out an indiscernible rhythm or always brushing something from lips when he was too lazy to retrieve a napkin or always tracing, drawing, painting some unknown pattern on any flat surface he could find. Sehun wished he could envision what Jongdae was drawing with his fingers, but the feeling of Jongdae’s fingers on his skin was enough.  
  
“How was that?” Jongdae said, leaning backwards, his fingers falling from Sehun’s lips after they brushed off a stray crumb.  
  
“Hm…It’s interesting?” Sehun said as he tasted another new flavor Jongdae tried. Today it was guava and passion fruit, and the cake Jongdae had fed him was a soft yellow color that reminded Sehun of marigolds and spring.  
  
“Good interesting or bad interesting?” Jongdae asked as he swung his legs gently as he sat on the counter anticipating Sehun’s response.  
  
“Good. Surprising, but good,” Sehun smiled.  
  
“Thanks. Maybe One day I’ll make you a flavor and then we can sell it here! Sehun flavored cupcakes. I don’t know what combination of flavors I’d use for you, but I know they’ll be sweet. Very sweet,” Jongdae smiled back before raising the cake back to Sehun’s lips for him to taste again. Sehun busied himself by taking another bite, not trusting him to say anything that would come out anything less than overwhelmingly flustered. If Jongdae knew just how much he was affecting Sehun, he remained silent, opting so smile just a bit too smugly for Sehun’s liking as he raised a knuckle to gently brush Sehun’s lips.  
  
Sehun found himself wishing Jongdae would just kiss him instead.  
  
But before he knew it, it was closing hours at the bakery once again, and Jongdae was pushing him out of the store again so he could head home first. It wasn’t any use arguing anymore because Jongdae was older and stronger, but Sehun still wanted to stay with him just a bit longer and help him clean…  
  
“Look for me tomorrow,” Jongdae would always say, smiling from behind those glass doors.  
  
Yeah, yeah, yeah…Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow…Maybe tomorrow Sehun would finally win. Maybe tomorrow Sehun would find the courage to kiss Jongdae’s cheeks before embarrassedly running off. Maybe tomorrow he’d get to see Jongdae the whole day somehow. Tomorrow, maybe…Sehun sighed before smiling back and waving.  
  
Every day could be the same.  
  
Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.  
  
Life was like this. People woke up, went to work, went home, and went to sleep. Everything could be the same, and perhaps humanity was doomed to live forever chasing tomorrows while today still happened.  
  
But in between those mundane activities, life could be so beautiful.  
  
Sehun found those beautiful moments in the times he spent eating and joking around with Jongin, dancing by himself with the music raised on loud enough for his heart to soar in ecstatic delight but soft enough for his neighbors to remain uncomplaining, and laying in bed half-asleep just a couple extra minutes more on the weekends tangled in warm bed sheets and cheerful hopes.  
  
And more recently, he had found those moments when he realized how beautiful the sunrises and sunsets were every day and when Yifan greeted him every time he showed up for work with a comforting smile and when Kyungsoo berated him for something before begrudgingly making sure Sehun ate.  
  
And especially when Jongdae laughed at something he found amusing and brightened up the room and Sehun’s days, when Jongdae would give up his break to visit Sehun and lovingly feed him whatever he created, when Sehun realized that all the cupcakes and sugar in the world had nothing on Jongdae’s smiles because his cutely curved lips were so sweet…too sweet for Sehun to handle most of the time.  
  
Yeah, every day might be tiring. Waking up wasn’t fun. Working long hours was exhausting. Doing this every day yesterday, today, tomorrow could be a bleak prospect. But seeing loved ones every day, seeing the smile and laughter of everyone passing by, finding those small, lovely moments in between work and life was what life should be lived for. Anything could happen tomorrow. All of this or none of that at all.  
  
And that was wonderful.  
  


ϟ

  
  
But what wasn’t wonderful, at least to Jongin, were the nights Sehun spent pining to Jongin about how cute Jongdae looked today, what sweater Jongdae was wearing that day, what Jongdae was doing the whole day, what Jongdae would probably do tomorrow.  
  
“He _fed_ me, Jongin. Again….What am I supposed to do when he just sits on the counter with that smile and presses a cookie or something to my face?” Sehun pitifully sighed, burying his face in his hands at the thought of all those memories.  
  
“Simple. Just move the cookie out of the way and kiss him instead,” Jongin shrugged while munching on an éclair that Sehun had brought home from work.  
  
“I _can’t_. I work with him, Jongin…What if he rejects me or if he’s not into guys like me or guys at all. Then work will get awkward and I’d have to spend my breaks drawing with Yifan or in the company of Kyungsoo,” Sehun sighed.  
  
“Kyungsoo is the main baker, right? Wow…please pass on my compliments again. This is really, really good,” Jongin said, ignoring Sehun’s dilemma.  
  
“I’m having a _crisis_ and you’re busy eating,” Sehun glared.  
  
“So eat with me,” Jongin said, nonchalantly passing another éclair to Sehun who immediately took it and bit down, chewing frustratingly while he continued to think about the situation.  
  
“What you need…is an excuse to go visit him more or spend more time with him. Do something wild. Gauge his reaction, and if he seems like he’s interested in you, then go for it. Kiss him already so we can spend time together playing videogames without your whining getting in the way,” Jongin said after some time, finally offering some decent advice to Sehun.  
  
“Fine. Thank you,” Sehun said. Jongin nodded and pushed the bag of pastries out of the way before handing Sehun a video game controller.  
  
But while playing whatever videogame Jongin had chosen, Sehun was still vaguely distracted with the images Jongin forced into his head of kissing Jongdae’s soft lips. He pictured the potential fond, loving look Jongdae would give Sehun, and that alone was enough for Sehun to distractedly lose all the games he played that night. Jongin chuckled, shaking his head as he teased Sehun for being so smitten for Jongdae.  
  
It turned out, however, that Sehun didn’t even need to think hard of an excuse because a big enough excuse had occurred over the weekend.  
  
Kyungsoo had somehow managed to break his arm over some incident with his neighbor, and thus he could no longer bake everything as fast as he could. He had insisted that he could still work with one arm, but Yifan would have none of it. If his arm was broken, then he should rest until he was completely healed.  
  
But then what should be done now?  
  
Jongdae was a fine enough baker to bake everything himself, but at what cost? The two of them together could barely keep up with countless orders, so how was Jongdae supposed to do that all by himself? Yifan gravely told them that perhaps they should close the bakery for a bit and go on a short vacation until Kyungsoo came back.  
  
“I can do it,” Sehun blurted out while they sat around the cluttered kitchen table drinking some tea Yifan made.  
  
“Do what?” Yifan asked, putting down his mug to give Sehun his full attention.  
  
“What if I stepped in and helped Jongdae bake?” Sehun said, realizing this would be a good opportunity for him to get closer to Jongdae and spend more time aside from just breaks with him as well. Kyungsoo erupted into laughter and wished Sehun good luck once he heard of Sehun’s idea.  
  
“Hush, Kyungsoo. That’s…not a bad idea, but Sehun, do you have any baking experience?” Yifan asked.  
  
“…No, Sehun admitted, “But I can always try, right?”  
  
“I could teach him. Or he can just stand around and hand me stuff,” Jongdae nodded, “It would be better than closing for whoever knows how long because somebody couldn’t keep their arm unbroken.”  
  
“Kyungsoo can even switch jobs with me if he doesn’t want to go on break,” Sehun suggested, “He can work the cashier and stuff one-handed, right?”  
  
“If I could do that one-handed then why did we need to hire you in the first place,” Kyungsoo grumbled.  
  
“Aw, but if you didn’t go and break your arm we wouldn’t be sitting here wondering what to do,” Jongdae defended Sehun.  
  
“Let’s…settle down okay? I can help Kyungsoo with retrieving customer orders on top of continuing to work the barista station if he needs it, and you can use Sehun to help you with whatever you need. We can try this for a week or two, and if it’s too much, then we can take a break,” Yifan announced.  
  
But, as Sehun soon quickly discovered, it was indeed too much.  
  
For the first few days, Jongdae simply frantically ran around the kitchen telling Sehun to pass him this and that and whatever else he needed, and Sehun tried his best to follow everything Jongdae said and asked for. There wasn’t any time to talk to him about things that did not concern cooking temperatures, how a cake batter tasted, or the proper measurements of flour, and even if there were, the two of them soon became too tired to do anything but rest a few brief moments next to each other during their breaks.  
  
“I though…this was supposed to be an easy job…This is a bakery oh my god…I never thought it would be this hard,” Sehun mumbled as they sat collapsed on the kitchen floor during one of their breaks.  
  
“Sehun if this was easy then I’d be able to afford spending more time with you outside next to your cash register feeding you everything I made,” Jongdae laughed, tiredly rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand, leaving a trail of powdery flour across his face.  
  
“It’s always this hard?” Sehun asked. He had never thought running a bakery could be so _exhausting_ , and he admired Jongdae, Kyungsoo, and Yifan for working such long hours tirelessly every day to bake and sell the most delicious pastries he had ever tasted in his life.  
  
“No, not always…It depends on the season, really, and usually having Kyungsoo helps so much,” Jongdae said.  
  
“Oh. Kyungsoo?” Sehun said, blaming the sudden, unsettling feeling within him on the heat of the kitchen rather than jealousy.  
  
“Yeah. But now that I have you helping me, it’s good, too,” Jongdae said, scooting closer to lean his head on Sehun’s shoulder, causing Sehun to turn such beautifully vivid shades of red and pink that would’ve made every sunrise and sunset absolutely envious.  
  
This wasn’t as bad as it could be after all.  
  
And so far, things were running as smoothly as could be considering the situation they were all in. Things inside the kitchen weren’t so awful, and Jongdae and Sehun still managed to produce just enough baked goods to satisfy their customers with. And honestly the only problems outside in the store was getting Kyungsoo to greet their customers as cheerfully as possible. At least Sehun _tried_ to smile at the customers unlike Kyungsoo who monotonously greeted the customers through gritted teeth. Yifan was forced to leap from his coffee station in order to smile dazzlingly at new customers in order to provide some sort of a welcoming atmosphere that Kyungsoo’s disinterested gaze destroyed.  
  
But even if it was a bit too much to physically handle sometimes, this was tolerable. This was survivable, and Sehun thought that he could realistically live through a couple months of this until Kyungsoo’s arm healed. He had even recently been able to whip up a few batches of simpler pastries all by himself to his delight. Jongdae had been so proud, and Sehun remembered the way Jongdae had hugged him so enthusiastically after Sehun offered Jongdae a muffin he baked himself. Yeah, Sehun really thought he could continue this for a couple months no problem.   
  
But that was before he realized that the bakery also took cake orders that ranged from simple birthday cakes to extravagant, multi-tiered wedding cakes.


	2. Chapter 2

Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.  
  
In between all of this…Sehun wondered where he could squeeze in Cry because the first time Jongdae pulled out the cake order list to show him, Sehun had to control himself so he wouldn’t just crumple on the floor and lie for an eternity, internally screaming at the amount of work there was to be done for today and the days to come tomorrow.  
  
But Jongdae relied on him for help….he _needed_ Sehun…and so instead, Sehun just offered him a brave smile and asked him when they would begin working on these orders.  
  
“So we have a few birthday cakes, a few graduation cakes, one fuck-you cake, and…one giant wedding cake…But that one’s not until much later, so let’s just work on that a few days after we’re all done with the easier cakes first that we can start now,” Jongdae said, flipping through the order forms.  
  
“Alright. So…What do you need me to do?” Sehun asked, ready to begin. He was stunned with the amount of work they had to finish in such a short period of time, but he quickly pushed his trepidation away and pushed an encouraging smile on his face instead.  
  
Jongdae offered him a grateful smile in return before listing off the ingredients and other supplies they would need to begin working immediately.  
  
Perhaps Jongdae was a good teacher, perhaps Sehun was diligently trying to learn how to do everything as best as he could, or perhaps the two of them just naturally worked so well together, but even though they had only been working side by side in the bakery for just a bit of time, everything ran as smoothly as it could possibly be, given Sehun’s inexperience. Sehun was able to anticipate the easier, less complicated things Jongdae needed before he even asked, and Jongdae made sure to check on Sehun to make sure he wasn’t tired or confused with any directions.  
  
The first few nights of cake baking and decorating were physically tiring but tolerable at least…and Sehun swore he could recite the recipe for royal and buttercream frosting in his sleep after all the batches of frosting he made before he passed them onto Jongdae for him to color just right. Sehun really hated piping bags, though, and it was so difficult to cram all of the frosting into the bags without either creating a mess or taking forever…  
  
But what Jongdae did with the frosting after they had finished baking the cakes and preparing the frosting was absolutely _stunning_.  
  
Jongdae was an artist at heart, and whether his tools were paintbrushes or piping tips, whatever he painted, decorated, created was so beautiful that Sehun often failed to find the proper words to describe the intricate details and vibrant colors and the pure art that Jongdae so carefully fabricated.  
  
Sehun especially loved to sneak fond, adoring glances at Jongdae while they worked, admiring the little cute crinkle in his forehead when he concentrated especially hard to pipe an intricate iris just right...and loving the way he pressed his perpetually smiling lips together when he carefully mixed the right amount of coloring gel into the fondant before passing it on to Sehun to mix together. With Jongdae to decorate the cakes, Sehun was sure that whoever would receive those immaculate birthday cakes and gorgeous graduation cakes were very lucky indeed. Even the recipient of the fuck-you cake, too….despite the poor sentiment that Jongdae eloquently finished icing with a flick of his wrist.  
  
But those were only the first, simpler cake orders.  
  
After nights and nights of simple single or two-tiered birthday cakes and no-reason-at-all cakes, the two of them had to begin working on the wedding cake order that had been sitting quite ominously on the bottom of the stack of cake orders.  
  
“They wanted _what_?” Sehun exclaimed once Jongdae read him what the couple had ordered.  
  
“A starry night cake…except with warm colors. They said there’s room for interpretation, but still…,” Jongdae said, looking incredulously at the order sheet once again to make sure he had read that right.  
  
“So basically they want you to go all Vincent Van Gogh and recreate an iconic painting in not only one tier, but also keep it going for… _eight_? How rich are these people…And why do they need such a giant cake,” Sehun disbelievingly said, imagining the long nights ahead already. Not that he minded at all…since Jongdae would be right there with him.  
  
“Hopefully when we’re done, it’ll look at least a little similar to the original, just like they wanted,” Jongdae said, suddenly a bit nervous that he, of all people, was to recreate such a magnificent work of art with fucking _frosting_.  
  
“Of course it’ll look similar. It’ll look even _better_ and more beautiful because you’re the one who’s decorating it after all,” Sehun reassured Jongdae, placing a hand over Jongdae’s to offer his support.  
  
“Sehun, you have too much faith in me,” Jongdae laughed, “I love painting…I really do, but I’m not as good as Van Gogh...No way."  
  
“That’s right. You’re even _better_. You’re Kim Jongdae!” Sehun exclaimed, throwing his arms up to illustrate the magnificence, the sheer awe Jongdae commanded...at least for him anyways.  
  
“And you’re Oh Sehun! The best baker’s assistant in the whole galaxy…who wakes up tirelessly to arrive to work even before his shift, who rings up countless orders after orders before working even harder in the kitchen, who has smiles so beautiful that they put all the glorious sunrises and sunsets to shame," Jongdae nodded fervently, already missing the feeling of Sehun’s hand on his.  
  
“Really? Even better than Kyungsoo?” Sehun said, relishing in the warmth and fondness that spread and manifested into pink-dusted cheeks. This time he credited the feeling to not the ovens that kept the kitchen pleasantly warm and cozy, but Jongdae. Only Jongdae.  
  
“Careful, Sehun…If Kyungsoo heard you called him an assistant rather than the head baker, then he’s going to shove a whisk up your—“ Jongdae began to say before Sehun interrupted him.  
  
“But Kyungsoo’s not here,” Sehun shook his head, “Just you. And me…And I’m going to help you put together the best wedding cake that couple will ever have…unless they decide to get divorced and one of them decides to order here again of course…which would _suck_ for them, but hey…more business for us, right?”  
  
Jongdae gazed at Sehun while he spoke, the corners of his lips curling up even more while he listened to Sehun speak. He had thought at first that Sehun was a little shy…stumbling on his words when he first began visiting Jongdae during his breaks. Now, Sehun spoke freely and easily whenever they were together. But finally, Jongdae realized it was not perhaps absolute shyness that Sehun had presented himself with in the beginning, but perhaps timid curiosity…fascinated interest….and a little something else sweeter than all the pastries Jongdae had baked and would bake in his entire lifetime.  
  
“Alright let’s begin, shall we?” Jongdae announced after Sehun finished speaking. Sehun beamed and scrambled off the stool he was sitting on to listen attentively to Jongdae’s orders.  
  
“Okay at least we’ve already finished baking the cakes, so we just have to decorate them now,” Jongdae said, “We’ll just ice them tonight, chill them, and put on the fondant and other decorations later.”  
  
And so the two of them began to grab the largest cake, reserved for the bottom tier, and heaved it upon an elevated platform. Grabbing a spatula, Jongdae began to ice the cake while Sehun rotated the platform to speed up the process. Soon, they had finished icing the first cake and had scraped off the excess buttercream to make a sleek, perfectly level tier, which they then quickly moved to the fridge to chill before carrying out the next tier.  
  
“…Why did they have to order _eight_ tiers,” Sehun grumbled, his previous enthusiasm cracking under the exhaustion that began creeping in after a long shift.  
  
“Sehun this is the only second tier,” Jongdae laughed as he began frosting the second cake, “Isn’t it too early for us to be complaining?”  
  
“I know, I know…But think of us…the bakers, or...you at least. When I get married, I’ll just make it easier on whoever makes my cake and won’t place an overly complicated order,” Sehun said.  
  
“I’ll make your cake when you get married, and just for you, I’d decorate a giant ten-tier cake. I promise! How does that sound?” Jongdae smiled, though he kept his gaze on the bench scraper he used to remove excess buttercream from the second tier.  
  
“I…In that case I’d help you make it. All ten tiers. I promise!” Sehun stubbornly said, though a quick, dangerous thought ran rampant in his mind for a mere moment as he thought that Jongdae shouldn’t have to make a cake for his own wedding…But as quickly as that thought burned through his mind, Sehun chased it out as a blush began forming across his face. It was too late to think of a wedding with Jongdae. It was too _late_ for this…and Sehun was not willing to get distracted now and think of how beautiful Jongdae would look in his suit smiling as they ignored the officiator, cut their ten-tiered together with champagne-drenched skin, and held each other all night long pressing loving kisses against necks and lips and other places every now and then.  
  
He could do that tomorrow when he was brave enough to imagine a future with Jongdae even though the two of them were just simply co-workers for today… when he was sad enough to think of all those happy days with Jongdae that may or may never come to be…and when he was hopeful enough to think of all the tomorrows he could spend living and laughing and loving Jongdae.  
  
Yeah. Tomorrow.  
  
That was the problem with tomorrow and all the future tomorrows. Things could happen, or they could not. But at least there was potential. Possibilities. Maybes.  
  
But for now, Sehun simply continued helping Jongdae as much as he could, running back and forth fetching more buttercream, helping move the cakes to and from the fridge, and encouraging Jongdae when it seemed like all he wanted to do was fall to the floor and sleep.  
  
And soon enough, they had finished icing all eight cakes and had simply opted to lay in the pantry next to each other, too tired to go home.  
  
“What kind…of couple…wants an orange and red starry night anyways,” Sehun yawned, thinking of all the hard work that lay ahead for Jongdae when they would begin to decorate the cake tomorrow.  
  
“Maybe some…edgy couple who thinks they’re too cool for blue. Or maybe someone who really likes the orange sun,” Jongdae tiredly responded.  
  
“I want to fight them,” Sehun said, his mind too groggy for his words to make sense, “I want to fight them and make them pay you ten times more than what they’re paying you for this.”  
  
“…Tomorrow,” Jongdae yawned, “I’ll help you with that tomorrow.”  
  
And so the two of them fell soundly asleep together in the pantry among the jars of jam lined up on the walls and giant flour sacks settled on the floor, thinking only of sleep, sleep, _sleep_ while dreaming of tomorrow, tomorrow, _tomorrow_.  
  
And tomorrow morning, Sehun stirred a little bit to the sound of the pantry door closing gently.  
  
Oh?  
  
Who opened it?  
  
But Sehun had more pressing concerns, as he turned his head to realize that during the cold hours of the night, Jongdae had somehow pressed himself on Sehun’s body, his arm swung over Sehun’s chest and his head buried comfortably on Sehun’s shoulder.  
  
Sehun was soon wide-awake at such a realization, and fiercely thought that there was no way this couldn’t be a dream…This was too sweet, too good, too wonderful to be true, and Sehun could not help but carefully lean his head on Jongdae’s own, closing his eyes as he attempted to rest just a bit more just like this with Jongdae, feeling Jongdae’s warm, even breathing as it tickled his neck.  
  
Everything was so peaceful.  
  
But tomorrow was already here, and there was no time for this anymore, and Sehun and Jongdae found themselves rudely awakened and interrupted by the sound of a piercing shriek as loud as the smoke detectors or the oven alarms as well as the distant echoes of laughter.  
  
Yifan, who was laughing behind Kyungsoo, had stepped in the pantry to originally retrieve something before he had found Sehun and Jongdae just like that. Wanting to mess with Kyungsoo, he had told him to fetch something from the pantry, and waited until the short baker was startled enough to shriek at the sight of them sleeping there.  
  
“I… _Yifan_ why didn’t you tell me they were here? I could’ve _died_ from a heart attack…then who would’ve been able to make all those pastries as well as I would’ve?” Kyungsoo said, pressing his unbroken arm over his chest after the initial shock passed.  
  
“Well you’re still alive today, right?” Yifan grinned.  
  
“This…this is a health hazard anyways. You two, get up and get out,” Kyungsoo said angrily before he swiftly grabbed a bag of sugar one-handedly and ran out.  
  
Jongdae blinked sleepily, and in the darkness of the pantry, Sehun couldn’t really appreciate what Jongdae looked like, but now that the lights were on, Sehun was finding himself so completely overwhelmed by the curves of Jongdae’s lips and the cheerful sparkle in his eyes all over again.  
  
“Oh, sorry…It must’ve been cold yesterday night,” Jongdae said, slowly untangling himself from Sehun.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Sehun said.  
  
“How late did you guys even work if you just fell asleep here?” Yifan curiously asked, poking his head into the pantry.  
  
“We iced…all eight layers of the wedding cake,” Jongdae yawned, stretching before he ran a hand through his sleep-tousled hair.  
  
“Ahh that’s good…” Yifan said, “But you guys should go home and rest more since you have to finish that tonight,”  
  
“Don’t we have work today though?” Sehun asked, pushing himself towards a sitting position.  
  
“We’re taking a bit of a break on the weekends now. Kyungsoo was just here to pick up something, and I was here just because I wanted to check on you guys,” Yifan replied.  
  
“Well we might as well do the fondant and let that sit so I can come back tonight and finish decorating,” Jongdae said.  
  
“I’ll come back with you tonight to help,” Sehun said.  
  
“Sehun that’s sweet, but come on…You’ve done more than enough already, so I can finish up the rest no problem,” Jongdae smiled.  
  
“But I can help! I can…hold the gel food coloring tubes stably so you can access them quickly and easily?” Sehun offered, seizing this opportunity…any opportunity to spend more time with Jongdae.  
  
“Just let him, Jongdae. He can keep you company,” Yifan laughed, knowing exactly what Sehun was trying to do.  
  
“Alright. Let’s eat breakfast, okay?” Jongdae said, standing up before offering a hand to Sehun.  
  
Sehun nodded and gratefully used Jongdae’s arm to stand up off of the ground. The two of them then found Kyungsoo quietly and slowly pulling out washed berries from the fridge and sprinkling them on the top of four glasses of yogurt.  
  
“I’m sorry I woke you guys up,” Kyungsoo said, pushing the glasses of yoghurt toward them as an apology, “I know it hasn’t been easy to fill in for a baker like me, but thank you for attempting.”  
  
“What kind of an apology is this?” Jongdae laughed before grabbing spoons, passing them around before digging eagerly into the yoghurt.  
  
“I’m _trying_ ,” Kyungsoo glared, handing another glass to Yifan.  
  
“No problem…We’ve got you covered until you heal. Things happen, and I guess we can’t help that you’re clumsy,” Jongdae shrugged before licking the yoghurt off his lips so unintentionally sinfully that Sehun wanted to gently lay his spoon down and maybe just lay himself down for today and tomorrow and forever just to recover.  
  
“I wasn’t _clumsy_ ,” Kyungsoo irately said, jolting Sehun out of his frustration, “It was that stupid Park Chanyeol who knocked me down on the stairs with his long limbs.  
  
“Anyways,” Kyungsoo changed the subject after realizing he was getting nowhere with Jongdae, ignoring Jongdae’s latest taunt to turn his attention somewhere else, “Sehun, didn’t you say your friend likes my baking.”  
  
“Yeah. Jongin really does,” Sehun nodded.  
  
“Naturally,” Kyungsoo nodded thoughtfully, “Tell him he can come here anytime and I’ll bake him som—“  
  
“Okay…Let’s go start the fondant before Kyungsoo says anything else,” Jongdae interrupted, quickly grabbing Sehun’s arm and pushing him towards the other side of the bakery.  
  
After retrieving the bottom layer from the fridge and placing it on the table, Jongdae looked at Sehun determinedly.  
  
“Ready?” He asked.  
  
“Ready,” Sehun nodded.  
  
And so after saying farewell to Yifan and Kyungsoo who had left for the weekend break, Sehun began pulling out some fondant and softening it so it would be easier for Jongdae to work with. But fondant was so…hard, stiff, and stubborn to work with, and Sehun’s arms began to tire after trying to coax it into something Jongdae could properly work with.  
  
“Here, let me,” Jongdae said, attempting to reach for the fondant to help Sehun.  
  
“No, no I’ve got this…Just start taking out all the other things you need,” Sehun insisted, finding some extra strength and will somewhere in him to continue to roll the fondant even though his arms were already aching.  
  
Jongdae hesitated before beginning to grab all the different gel food coloring and paintbrushes he would need.  
  
“Here,” Sehun said, passing Jongdae a large, softened ball of white fondant. Jongdae thanked him before grabbing the coloring gels and placing bits of red and orange gel in an indented hole in the fondant.  
  
Watching fascinatedly, Sehun observed as Jongdae then twisted the fondant, stretched it, and pulled it together multiple times, watching the color marbleize to provide a stunning canvas of streaky oranges and hints of soft reds.  
  
“It’ll be easier this way so I wouldn’t have to make sure I paint every single inch of white fondant,” Jongdae explained before taking out a rolling pin to roll the fondant with. After he had finished rolling it out with Sehun’s help, they carefully lifted the flattened fondant and placed it over the first tier of the cake. After smoothing it down properly and cutting off the excess fondant at the base, the two of them lifted it back to the fridge to chill and set.  
  
“Hey,” Sehun started to say after rolling out their third batch of fondant, “Wouldn’t it get tiring for you to hand paint all these cakes? Why don’t we just…have the cakes fade out to a pitch black sky on the top so it’ll be easier? We can even add little glittering constellations so it would be less complicated.”  
  
“Ooh…That’s a good idea, Sehun! Okay let’s do it,” Jongdae said, putting down a tube of red gel coloring to think about the idea more.  
  
“Yeah, I’ll work on the black fondant since there’ll be less of a chance for me to mess that up, and you can finish up the bottom layers,” Sehun said, already taking out the black gel.  
  
“Hush, Sehun. You will do well. I know it,” Jongdae assured Sehun.  
  
After Jongdae finished working on the bottom tiers, he immediately began to work on marbleizing and subtly fading the red and orange fondant into black while Sehun rolled out black fondant and placed it carefully over the top tiers. Soon after a few hours, they had finished placing the colored fondant on the cakes, and Sehun imagined how beautiful it would look after they would stack the tiers all on top of each other…  
  
“Go home so I can clean now that we’re done, okay?” Sehun pleaded, wishing Jongdae would let him at least this time for once.  
  
“Nope,” Jongdae laughed, pushing Sehun out of the kitchen. Sehun did his best to stand his ground, but Jongdae was far too strong, and he found himself once again dragged out of the kitchen and out of the front door until he found himself completely outside the bakery. Again. Sehun rushed to open the door before Jongdae could lock it, but he was, like all those times before, too slow.  
  
“Go home and rest,” Jongdae loudly said from behind the glass.  
  
“But Jongdae…I want to help you... Is that really so wrong?” Sehun said, pitifully pressing a hand to the glass while giving Jongdae his best pout.  
  
“Sehun…when you do things like that, you really make things hard for me…But look for me tonight, okay?” Jongdae said, insistently waving Sehun goodbye and turning his back swiftly so Sehun would not see the small blush that had dusted his own cheeks.  
  
“One day I’m going to shut you out. One day I’ll win,” Sehun scowled once he realized Jongdae was not going to give in.  
  
Giving up, Sehun trudged back to his house, staring at the blue afternoon sky for once. He was so used to orange-streaked, pink-sprinkled skies accompanying him to and from work, so it was a bit odd to see such a clear, evenly colored sky for once. Afternoons were an odd time…A time where people could only afford to think about the present. Today.  
  
When he finally reached home, Sehun collapsed on the couch, not even making it to his bed. After setting an alarm for himself so he wouldn’t be late for work tonight, Sehun curled up into the seat of the couch, legs spilling off the edge, and closed his eyes to sleep.  
  
What finally woke him, however, was not his own alarm, but a call from Jongin, who had asked him if he wanted to eat dinner tonight together.  
  
“Sorry…I’ve got another night shift at the bakery tonight,” Sehun asked, rubbing his eyes as he pulled himself into a sitting position.  
  
“Are you sure you’re not blowing me off so you can blow Jongdae instead? Do you guys have a date or something?” Jongin teased.  
  
“I…No! We have a wedding cake that needs to be all finished,” Sehun mumbled.  
  
“I see. You didn’t even tell _me_ , your best friend that you were marrying Kim Jongdae? If I’m not your best man, then you’re going to have to find some other person to whine too when—“ Jongin continued joking.  
  
"No, it’s not our wedding,” Sehun interrupted with a sigh before he quickly added, “We’re not even dating, Jongin.”  
  
“Sehun…I told you to go find an excuse to go spend more time with him so you can kis—“ Jongin began to say.  
  
“This _is_ the excuse, Jongin,” Sehun said before Jongin went on any further, “I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah okay…Don’t work yourself too hard, okay? I can’t play videogames with you if you’re busy sleeping on my couch, Sehun,” Jongin said before Sehun diligently promised like a good best friend he’d sleep on Jongin’s own bed next time then, floury, frosting-caked clothes and all.  
  
He still had a bit of time before Jongdae told him to be there, but Sehun grabbed his coat and headed out anyways…Maybe if he arrived early he could get some work done so there’d be less for Jongdae to do.  
  
But when he arrived and entered through the back door, he was astonished at the sight of Jongdae resting next to the bottom tier…the _finished_ bottom tier whose marbleized canvas now had a beautiful, painted scenery on it.  
  
“Did you…did you even go home or rest at all?” Sehun disbelievingly asked after he saw Jongdae sitting at the table with his head resting against the countertop, paintbrushes spilling out of his hand.  
  
“Mm…This is my break. A little one….a little cat nap,” Jongdae tiredly said.  
  
“A kitten nap,” Sehun shook his head as he picked up Jongdae’s paintbrushes and closed the cap on the open coloring gel tubes, “You should’ve just gone home to rest more or at least taken a nap here.”  
  
“Hey…at least I finished the bottom tier, right? That was the hardest one,” Jongdae said, finally pushing himself to an upright position.  
  
“Yeah…It’s gorgeous,” Sehun said, taking a long moment to properly admire Jongdae’s skilled brushwork and artistry that vibrantly recreated a red starry night, tiny houses and cypresses and all.  
  
“Thank you,” Jongdae smiled before hopping off the chair, “Should we start the other ones now?”  
  
“You’re exhausted though,” Sehun said, steering Jongdae back to the chair, “Shouldn’t you rest first?”  
  
“After we’re all done,’ Jongdae stubbornly said, waving Sehun away as he tried to get up again.  
  
Sehun sighed. It was no use to argue with Jongdae, to even try forcing him down to sit and rest for a bit. Jongdae was too stubborn, too strong, and Sehun was currently having trouble focusing on anything else except the way Jongdae hung off his shoulder as he leaned on him for support as they walked to the fridge.  
  
The two of them began carrying the second tier and carefully placed it on the table. Jongdae immediately began to get to work, painting on the next layer while Sehun pulled out some new fondant and silver gel coloring, intending to start working on the constellations for the top tiers. So while Jongdae painted the remaining tiers as quickly as possible, Sehun had found a picture of a star map on his phone and began recreating all of them.  
  
All.  
  
Well...  
  
As many as he could at least.  
  
Time passed by as they worked quietly, occasionally breaking the silence with occasional cheerful talk and tired yawns, and at this point, Sehun didn’t know if it was midnight today or morning tomorrow. But what he did know was that as long as Jongdae was here working beside him, he could do this without any break or sleep until the end of eternity, however long that would be.  
  
“Oh, Sehun that’s wonderful,” Jongdae excitedly said as he took a slight break from painting the last sunset tier to check on Sehun’s progress.  
  
“Really?” Sehun said as he finished painting some edible glitter on the last few constellations, “But it’s just a couple of lines and dots. It’s not as complicated as anything you’re doing.”  
  
“Shush, Sehun. They’re prettier than the stars at night. You made them after all,” Jongdae waved Sehun away.  
  
“Oh yeah? Well you said that sunsets are your favorite, but I don’t care what the sun does….whether it rises or sets or falls out of the sky. It’s always going to have absolutely nothing on the suns you paint. Or your smile at all,” Sehun said, crossing his arms over his chest. Jongdae raised his eyebrows, about to say something sentimentally fond in return, but was interrupted by someone else.  
  
“Oh my god…You’re still here? It’s five am!” Someone’s loud voice echoed into the kitchen, startling them both.  
  
“Yifan, why are you here?” Jongdae tiredly said, dropping his response to Sehun’s comment in order to incredulously wonder what Yifan was doing at such an early hour here as well.  
  
Sure enough, Yifan stood in the doorway of the kitchen dressed in casual sweatpants and a hoodie that was somehow oversized even for his tall self, looking stunned at the sight of them still _here_.  
  
“I…forgot I left my dragon’s beard candy here. It could melt in these hot temperatures, you know!” Yifan said, gesturing around the warm kitchen before Jongdae and Sehun erupted into laughter.  
  
“Yifan…couldn’t you have waited until the morning?” Jongdae said, the extra curves on his lips a little too mocking for Yifan’s liking.  
  
“Don’t worry, though. We haven’t used the ovens today at all,” Sehun said, amused at Yifan who had raced to his bakery at such ungodly hours of the morning to go retrieve his…candy.  
  
“Don’t be like this, guys,” Yifan said, a whine creeping into his voice, “Have you even _tried_ dragon’s beard candy?”  
  
Yifan then walked around the kitchen tables, lifting up a tiny plastic, rubber-banded box triumphantly before showing them exactly what he disrupted his sleep for. Sehun peered curiously inside, gazing at little white rectangles comprised of pulled sugar continuously wrapped around each other, excess sugar dusting the bottom of the box.  
  
"This…is what you came here for?” Jongdae asked, unimpressed by the candy.  
  
“Just _try_ one,” Yifan insisted, pulling the rubber band that sealed the box off, holding out the box for Jongdae and Sehun to try.  
  
Sehun cautiously took one piece and bit into it. Immediately, it stuck a little on his teeth, but when he tried to gently tear a bit of it off, the candy stretched, revealing thin strands of the pulled sugar that encased the finer sugar and ground up peanuts that tumbled out, spilling on the floor before Sehun could bring a hand up to catch them as they fell.  
  
“Mm…” Jongdae said contentedly, closing his eyes to savor the sweet taste.  
  
“Right?” Yifan smiled, finally eating one himself, happily pulling the threaded, spun sugar apart before quickly catching the falling peanuts and sugar with his hand.  
  
“Thanks for the candy…We needed some sugar to continue to keep us up anyways,” Sehun nodded.  
  
“No problem. See? It was worth it! But wow…your cake looks really amazing so far. How much more do you have to do?” Yifan said, staring with nothing short of awe at the towering cake.  
  
“I just have to finish painting the rest of this tier, and we’ll be done,” Jongdae said, walking to the sink to wash his hands before going back to work.  
  
“Let me help,” Yifan said, putting the rest of his candy back on the counter.  
  
“As much as your…beautiful art skills would truly make the wedding something special,” Jongdae began to say, “Why don’t you help Sehun start securing the constellations on the upper tiers?”  
  
“I should send them a painting of my own work as a wedding gift…” Yifan said thoughtfully as he walked over to the sink to wash his hands before starting to help Sehun. Jongdae and Sehun exchanged amused glances before getting back to work.  
  
Powered by each others’ presences and no doubt Yifan’s candy, the three of them worked well side by side by side and soon enough, the cake was finished after so many tireless hours of work.  
  
“Done,” Jongdae said excitedly, carefully placing down his brush. Sehun clapped, choosing to dance enthusiastically next to Jongdae to celebrate the cake’s completion even though he was ridiculously exhausted.  
  
“Nice, nice, nice,” Yifan appreciatively said, patting Jongdae’s and Sehun’s heads with his large hands.  
  
The three of them stood back to admire the finished cake for the first time, and there it stood, towering above all of them, elevated on the table. The upper tiers were pitch black, save for the glittering constellations that dotted the expansive void of space, but as the tiers expanded in size from top to bottom, the black faded to the warm, bold colors of the lower tiers. Jongdae’s brushwork and artistry was beyond anything Sehun had ever seen, and Sehun wanted to cry at how beautiful it all was…The swirling orange galaxies combined with fiery red streaks running through the skies of the fondant canvas were breathtakingly beautiful.  
  
Fuck Vincent Van Gogh. He had absolutely nothing on Kim Jongdae.  
  
Just kidding, just kidding...Sehun silently apologized to Van Gogh before continuing to bask in such awe for and appreciation of Jongdae. Where were Jongdae’s art exhibits around the world? All of his cakes and paintings and art deserved to be preserved and memorialized in galleries and appreciated by everyone for the rest of eternity.  
  
And where were all of the museums and monuments erected in Jongdae’s name? Sehun would have no problem commissioning all those buildings if he actually had…money…  
  
But Sehun quickly chased those thoughts from his mind and turned to look at Jongdae, and immediately _knew_ what Jongdae was going to try and do…He could see Jongdae subtly turning his attention away from the cake and thinking about all the countertops to wipe off and all the paintbrushes to wash. But this time, Sehun was moments ahead of Jongdae, and before Jongdae could even blink, Sehun had grabbed his shoulders and began pushing him in the direction of the door while Yifan looked on, curious at what exactly he was doing.  
  
“Sehun, what are you doing?” Jongdae asked, trying to push back against him and struggle back to the kitchen, but this time he was more tired and Sehun more determined.  
  
“Cleaning up all by myself so you can go home,” Sehun said, as he could feel victory so close as he saw those glass doors rapidly approaching. Sehun kept pushing, pushing, pushing Jongdae as gently as possible in such a situation, and for once, he finally won.  
  
With one final shove, Jongdae was pushed into the outside world while Sehun locked the door as fast as he could.  
  
“Look for me tomorrow,” Sehun smirked, victoriously staring at Jongdae from inside the glass.  
  
“I just want to help you, Sehun,” Jongdae pouted, pressing a hand to the glass, “ _You_ go home and rest.”  
  
Sehun simply waved from inside, smiling at Jongdae sweetly, happy he could finally stay behind to clean while Jongdae went home to rest for once.  
  
But his victory was severely and tragically short-lived, as he felt himself being pushed out the door once again, though this time not by Jongdae, but Yifan.  
  
“Both of you need to go home. Don’t come back tomorrow, alright? I’ll clean everything up and handle the delivery so you can just sleep and rest and…whatever. Do I make myself clear?” Yifan waved from behind the relocked doors before he began to retreat back to the kitchen.  
  
“I guess we both lose today, Sehun,” Jongdae said, poking Sehun playfully.  
  
“I was so _close_ ,” Sehun scowled, too tired to even put any animosity into the half-hearted glare he shot at Yifan’s retreating back.  
  
“It’s okay. Maybe you’ll win sometime…never maybe,” Jongdae said.  
  
“I’m too tired for this, Jongdae,” Sehun complained, rubbing his eyes.  
  
“Do you live close by at least?” Jongdae asked.  
  
“Kind of,” Sehun replied, telling Jongdae the area he lived in.  
  
“Lucky…I live a bit further than that,” Jongdae yawned.  
  
“Do you…want to come home with me to rest since my place is closer?” Sehun found himself bravely asking, crediting his boldness to his absolute exhaustion and half-asleep state.  
  
“I’d love that. Thank you,” Jongdae smiled, sending warm contentment fluttering into Sehun’s heart.  
  
Accompanied by the slowly rising sun, both of them were too tired to talk much on the way home, though Sehun, even braver than before, slowly slid an arm over Jongdae’s shoulder. And without any hesitation or second thought, Jongdae leaned into Sehun. Internally, Sehun wanted to shout jubilantly into the skies and at the sun because Jongdae was leaning on _him_ , he had his arm on _Jongdae_ …but he didn’t want to scare Jongdae off, and he barely had the energy to do anything except continue to walk…walk…walk onwards, so he simply resigned himself to sliding a lazily content, fond smile onto his countenance while he tightened his grip on Jongdae’s shoulder and pulled him closer.  
  
And with the light of the brilliant sun guiding them home, Sehun didn’t even have time to think of tomorrow because he wanted such a moment like this today to last forever.  
  


ϟ

  
  
When they finally reached Sehun’s place, Jongdae let out a loud yawn before heading to the couch, though Sehun quickly pulled him away from the living room and to his own room.  
  
“Take my bed please,” Sehun said, pulling back the blankets before gently leading Jongdae to it.  
  
“No… _you_ take it…you sleep in it, Sehun,” Jongdae tiredly said, but his exhaustion had finally set in, so he could not physically protest as Sehun guided him into the blankets.  
  
Sehun was about to head out to the couch himself and crash for the night…day… _whatever_ time it was until he heard those soft words fall from Jongdae’s mouth.  
  
“…What?” Sehun said, turning around, not quite sure if his heart had misheard Jongdae’s words.  
  
“Sleep with me?” Jongdae quietly repeated, tiredly scooting over Sehun’s bed and patting the spot next to him.  
  
“I…” Sehun said, suddenly breathless and wordless as he struggled to process the implications of what Jongdae said. But Jongdae looked so innocent and genuine and _cute_ , so surely he couldn’t have meant what Sehun thought he meant…  
  
“Sehun, come,” Jongdae pouted, fighting off a yawn.  
  
“Of course,” Sehun said, springing to action and all but running to the bed, not needing Jongdae to ask him a third time.  
  
Carefully climbing in, Sehun realized how much of a wonderfully awful idea this was as Jongdae was curled up inches away from him. Sehun listened to Jongdae’s rapidly evening breathing before closing his eyes, opening his heart even further to the man beside him, and finally beginning to doze off as he dreamt of floury hands and pink, sweet smiles.  
  
Tomorrow came quickly…too quickly, and after Sehun stirred, he immediately rolled on his side because he just _knew_ if he opened his eyes, everything that happened yesterday would have been a beautiful, beautiful dream. Sehun remembered walking home with Jongdae leaning on his shoulder and sliding into bed with Jongdae by his side and smiled at the memory, burying his face into his pillow to hide his cheerful grin.  
  
Intending to wake Jongdae from his own slumber, Sehun reached a hand out to the other side of bed. After a few moments of reaching out to…nothing, Sehun quickly sat up to look for Jongdae on the bed.  
  
But there was nothing but empty sheets.  
  
Oh.  
  
_Oh_.  
  
Did he really dream all of that? Sehun felt a crushing feeling pulling the corners of his lips downwards as he sighed disappointedly. He had wanted yesterday’s dreams and moments to last just a bit longer before tomorrow tore right through them all, chasing out sleep to lead in today.  
  
But as Sehun peered closer, he noticed wrinkled, indented sheets…Maybe Jongdae was here then? Maybe he left before Sehun woke up, not wanting to spend more time here or something…  
  
Sehun sighed and pulled himself out of bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress before some sweet smells began wafting into his bedroom.  
  
Could it be?  
  
Sehun found himself slowly taking one step…after the other…one…by one…and as he walked into the kitchen to investigate the smell and the rapidly crescendoeing sound of crackling heat, he dared to hope.  
  
Please?  
  
_Please_.  
  
Sehun stopped in his tracks, hearing the roar of the oven fan, and took a deep breath before walking into the kitchen.  
  
Yes?  
  
_Yes_.  
  
All of Sehun’s worries tumbled out of his mind immediately, and Sehun relaxed into the comfort of the mere sight of Jongdae. Jongdae, who had been cooking something, turned around holding a spatula after noticing Sehun’s presence.  
  
“Good mornternoon, Sehun. Did you sleep well?” Jongdae asked with a smile.  
  
“Mornternoon?” Sehun asked bewilderingly before looking at the clock that read some time in the afternoon.  
  
“I didn’t get a chance to say good morning to you since we both slept past it, and it’s the afternoon now, so good morning and afternoon!” Jongdae said.  
  
“Ah yes…Good afterning to you too, Jongdae,” Sehun said before beginning to reveal his honest thoughts, “I did sleep well…but if would’ve been nicer if you – never mind…”  
  
Sehun had wanted to complain that Jongdae didn’t stay in bed to cuddle with him and laze around together tangled in sheets and sunlight, but he had no right. They were just co-workers, and he was lucky Jongdae even came back with him to his home…  
  
“Aw…Sehun you’re so cute,” Jongdae laughed as he turned off the stove, sending a fierce blush creeping up Sehun’s face that he could no longer attribute to the heat of the oven, “But I wanted to make you some food so you could eat up!”  
  
“Thank you, Jongdae,” Sehun said sincerely, glancing at the food Jongdae was carefully plating and feeling like the luckiest person alive. Sehun was lucky to have Jongdae in his life. So. Incredibly. Lucky. Jongdae helped him so much, made sure he ate in the mornings, in the afternings, in the always. And he was so _kind_ to Sehun, and Sehun wanted to repay Jongdae at least ten times as much for everything…And Sehun could no longer deny that he felt so helplessly overwhelmed whenever Jongdae would do something like simply smile in his direction or just climb onto the counter to feed Sehun pastries he made for him.  
  
“It’s always my pleasure, Sehun. Now sit and eat!” Jongdae said, sliding Sehun a plate filled with neatly arranged French toast with a bit of powdered sugar and raspberries sprinkled on top.  
  
It was late in the afternoon and they were eating French toast, and if Sehun didn’t question that at all, then he especially didn’t question why Jongdae’s smiles and laughter always caused him to smile so lovingly in return. He didn’t question why he thought Jongdae’s lips would taste better and sweeter than any of the sugar-powdered, maple-syrup drizzled French toast he was currently eating. And he especially didn’t question why his heart was currently feeling like it had raced into the distant future, leaving a trail of burning hope behind as he dreamed of all the future days he wanted to spend with Jongdae.  
  
Today was beautiful.  
  
Today was beautiful, and Sehun fondly thought about how beautiful Jongdae looked now…in the morning, in the afternoon, all the time…because Jongdae's afterning messy hair and beautiful, sleepy smile were sending tremors into Sehun's chest that wildly reverberated in his heart.  
  
And Sehun wanted to see this…to see Jongdae day after day, tomorrow after today, and all the moments in between.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crossposted from 9/2015


	3. Chapter 3

Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.   
  
In between all of this…Sehun wondered where he could fit in Scream because as the days grew hotter and hotter and the clouds parted to let the sun shine brighter and splatter the world with its brilliant light, Jongdae’s sweaters began disappearing more and more, and his sleeveless, scandalously cut tank tops began appearing more and more, much to Sehun’s frustration.   
  
It was now even more so incredibly hard to focus on anything but Jongdae and his arms, and Sehun felt the need to sit down every time Jongdae insisted on carrying the giant flour bags from the delivery truck whenever their shipments would arrive.   
  
And especially now that Jongdae was personally teaching him more recipes and frosting techniques, Sehun didn’t know exactly how he managed to learn anything since Jongdae continued to be so _distracting_.   
  
“Sehun…Are you listening?” Jongdae’s voice jolted him back to the present.   
  
“I…yeah, sorry,” Sehun said, lifting up his piping bag once again. After countless hours helping Jongdae make icing, mixing batters, and fetching items from the pantry, Sehun was finally learning how to decorate cakes and frost properly so they could finish orders quicker. And while this was quite interesting and ultimately helpful to learn, Sehun would rather continue staring at Jongdae and his arms…  
  
“Sehun, pay attention,” Jongdae whined before repeating his instructions, “Okay so you just lift up your piping bag, twist it a bit so the pressure makes it easier for you to pump the icing out, and then flick your wrist upwards…like this.”  
  
Sehun nodded and raised his piping bag just like Jongdae showed him before slowly squeezing a bit of icing out and flicking his wrist up to finish the pattern. He had been trying to pipe a simple, dotted pattern around the edge of the cake, and he had thought he was doing alright…until he glanced at Jongdae’s work. Jongdae had finished in about a third of the time it had taken Sehun to finish piping even half of his cake, and his pristinely immaculate icing patterns made Sehun’s look so sloppy in comparison.   
  
“Is…this too much?” Sehun asked, gesturing at his icing.   
  
“Not bad! Yeah maybe a bit too much…so maybe a little less pressure next time? But it’s okay! You’ve just got to practice more, and then you’ll be even more amazing,” Jongdae said, clapping for Sehun after he examined his work.   
  
“You’re just a good teacher…There’s no way I would’ve been able to do this all on my own,” Sehun shrugged.  
  
“Oh, but you did! Look…It’s amazing for your first time,” Jongdae smiled sincerely, and Sehun was glad he was such a patient teacher. Time after time after time, Jongdae would repeat instructions again and again and again if Sehun ever needed, would praise Sehun especially whenever he presented him with a delightfully perfect cinnamon roll he baked, and would encourage Sehun to try again whenever he accidentally used too much sugar or piped a bit too much frosting.   
  
But learning was so _hard_ when Jongdae leaned so close to him to help him pipe the icing on just right…Sehun would find himself appreciatively tracing Jongdae’s jawbone with his eyes instead of tracing the cake with his piping bag.   
  
And it was especially hard to concentrate when Jongdae would place his hands over Sehun’s and guide his piping tip around, though. Sehun couldn’t possibly find it in himself to focus on the proper way he was supposed to squeeze the piping bag when Jongdae’s hands were squeezing his own.   
  
“Did you get that?” Jongdae asked, finally lifting his hands away from Sehun’s to look at him expectantly.  
  
“I…” Sehun began to stumble on his words, clear that he hadn’t been paying attention.   
  
“Sehun, we’re going to run out of icing by the time you actually get this down,” Jongdae complained, scrunching his lips together into a pout.   
  
“I’ll just make you more if that happens,” Sehun said, looking at Jongdae’s frustratingly _adorable_ lips that he suddenly felt the incredible urge to kiss.   
  
“Come on…Try for me?” Jongdae asked, leaning in closer to Sehun as he continued pleading.   
  
This wasn’t helping…Sehun took one look at Jongdae’s pleading face so incredibly _close_ to his, and immediately turned away to try again, bending over the cake to focus on squeezing the icing out just right without any further glance at Jongdae. Pleased, Jongdae continued to hover over him and encouraged his progress.   
  
After a few weeks of good practice, Sehun was able to ice a cake simply and easily in a decent amount of time and able to frost quite a few cupcakes in under a minute. But between his successes, there were lots of failures too, though at least he was able to bring the rejects to Jongin.   
  
“You decorated this yourself?” Jongin asked, gazing at the cupcakes Sehun brought home one night before grabbing one.  
  
“Yeah. I know they’re not as good as Jongdae’s, but it’s not that bad, right? I just…put a bit too much frosting on those,” Sehun said.  
  
“Shut up, Sehun. It’s amazing,” Jongin said between bites, “It’s not like I could do something even a fraction as good as this.”  
  
“Thank you, Jongin,” Sehun smiled.   
  
“Anyways…have you finally kissed Jongdae yet? Or are you guys finally banging?” Jongin grinned as he mischievously twisted the conversation around to a different topic.  
  
“Fuck you, Jongin,” Sehun mumbled, becoming instantly flustered at the sound of Jongdae’s name. He shook his head before grabbing a cupcake to hide behind and stuff his mouth with.   
  
“Aww…You’re in too deep…Look at how red your face is getting,” Jongin teased as he poked Sehun with a sticky finger, “Have you had any opportunities to kiss him at least?”  
  
“…No,” Sehun sighed, “Jongin, his lips are beautiful and soft and pink, and I just want to—“  
  
“Sehun please spare me and kiss him already,” Jongin said, throwing his empty cupcake wrapper at him.   
  
“What if he doesn’t like me like that,” Sehun moped, putting his half-eaten cupcake down to hide his face in his hands, “What if he doesn’t like me because I’m awful at cake decorating and he’s too good at it.”  
  
“Hey…” Jongin said, his expression losing its childish playfulness and growing more serious by the second, “If he doesn’t like you because you’re too tall or something for his preferences, then fine. His loss. But if he doesn’t like you for such a stupid, wrong reason like that, then I’ll kick him myself.”  
  
“Jongin…I’m going to bake you a giant cake one day…You’re too good to me,” Sehun said, nudging Jongin’s leg with his own.   
  
“Excellent. I know it’ll be amazing,” Jongin smiled.   
  
“Thanks,” Sehun smiled back, realizing for the infinite time that Jongin was such a sweet, supportive best friend.   
  
“Besides…Jongdae probably likes you anyways. What type of a platonic co-worker relationship could he have with you if he constantly _feeds_ you all the time? And what about that time he slept in your bed! In your _bed_ , Sehun! Just kiss him already or I’ll lock you guys into a room and won’t let you out until you confess to him,” Jongin said.   
  
“ _Thanks_ ,” Sehun groaned, realizing for the infinite time Jongin was such a rude, insufferable best friend.   
  
And so the following weeks, Sehun looked for every opportunity there was to kiss Jongdae and his smiling, curved lips. But it was so _hard_. Between the busy hours of working and baking and decorating, there wasn’t much time to pull Jongdae aside and tell him he really loved the way his laughter brightened up the room…and the way Jongdae’s support made Sehun feel better about his work…and the way Jongdae’s everything made Sehun’s heart swoon and feel eternally blessed. Breaks were an option, yes, but every time Sehun called for Jongdae’s attention while they were sitting around and relaxing for moments before the oven timers would beep or their break would be over, the words died in his throat before he could even open his mouth to tell him all these things.   
  
So Sehun was stuck in a tragic cycle of pining day after night after day after Jongdae. He truly enjoyed his company, his everything, his existence, and he furiously wished he could be brave enough to say or do something one day…like one day when he accidentally turned on the electric mixer on high and splashed himself with pink raspberry cake batter.   
  
“Sehun oh my god,” Jongdae laughed, pointing at Sehun’s cake-splattered self.   
  
“Jongdae please…this is a stressful job,” Sehun said before joining in and laughing with Jongdae at the complete mess he made. Kyungsoo was going to _kill_ him if he saw his kitchen like this now.  
  
“Your face has so much batter on it,” Jongdae shook his head as he popped a fresh raspberry into his mouth.   
  
“Yours too,” Sehun said, feeling brave.   
  
“What? I was over there,” Jongdae said pressing fingers to his face to check, “There’s no way I have—“  
  
“Whoops…Yeah you do,” Sehun smiled, quickly dipping his fingers into the bowl before smearing it on Jongdae’s face.   
  
Jongdae blinked before loudly complaining and tackling Sehun to the ground. The two of them laughed, wrestling each other as the cake batter continued to smear all over them, their dusty blushes beginning to match the pink batter that covered their cheerful, blissful faces.   
  
And soon Sehun found himself pinned to the floury, pink-splattered floor with Jongdae triumphantly on top of him, reminded again that Jongdae and his biceps were too strong for him. But as their playful fight began to cease, Sehun stopped struggling as he began realizing what _position_ they were in and began feeling so incredibly overcome with affection when he gazed up at Jongdae’s smiling face and curling lips above him.   
  
What a beautiful sight to see.   
  
Sehun wanted nothing more than to kiss Jongdae, but feeling so completely overwhelmed and not knowing what else do to with himself, he simply shut his eyes for a moment.   
  
But suddenly he felt something press against his lips tenderly and gently and Sehun’s eyes flew open to see Jongdae so close and _here_ , and oh my God Jongde was _kissing_ him. Sehun suddenly shot straight up off the floor and into a sitting position to process what had just happened, knocking Jongdae from his lips in the process, his eyes wide and wondering. Did that…really just happen? After so many days and nights of dreaming and wishing and hoping that this would happen…that this could happen?  
  
“Oh…did I misread you all this time? I’m sorr—“ Jongdae panicked, suddenly worried that Sehun had rejected him.   
  
“Do you know…how _long_ I’ve wanted that to happen? I just…You’re here and I’m here and you can’t just _pull_ this on me out of nowhere after I’ve dreamt—“ Sehun began to stammer out, his breath speeding up to match his racing heart. His arms trembled slightly, feeling the desire to hold Jongdae, to hold his face between his hands, to kiss him.   
  
And so he did.   
  
And so Sehun ceased his own rambling by gently pulling Jongdae’s face closer to his before he pressed a fierce kiss to his lips.   
  
“Oh,” Jongdae said as they broke apart, their chests heaving and their lips pink and buzzing. Jongdae tasted of the sweet raspberries he just ate, and Sehun wanted nothing more than to continue to kiss him again and again and again, and was just about to eagerly lean in for another kiss before the door slammed open as a triumphant looking Kyungsoo marched in before the smile dropped off his face after he took one look at Jongdae and Sehun rolling around his batter-splattered kitchen.   
  
“Damn, Kyungsoo…You heal fast. What, was that only like two months or something?” Jongdae noted, glancing at Kyungsoo’s cast-free arm, trying to draw attention to something…anything else before Kyungsoo could say anything about the state of his kitchen.   
  
“What…did you do to my kitchen?” Kyungsoo carefully said, walking slowly around to observe the overturned bowl and bending over a bit to peer distastefully at the mix spilling off the counter and onto the floor.   
  
“Congratulations on your arm, Kyungsoo,” Sehun quickly said, hoping Kyungsoo wouldn’t be _too_ mad…But if Kyungsoo didn’t allow him to step in his pristine kitchen on his first day, Sehun didn’t want to know upset Kyungsoo was now…  
  
“Hey, hey, hey….Whoa there, Kyungsoo!” Yifan said, rushing into the kitchen to intervene before he’d have to place an ad out for a new cake decorator and cashier.   
  
“Yifan…do you _see_ what they’ve done to my kitchen?” Kyungsoo quietly said as he thoughtfully glanced at the kitchen knives on the counter.  
  
“Ah…Well…there are people out in the front who wanted to…to meet the head baker here since they were so impressed with how everything tasted, so why don’t you come out to meet them?” Yifan lied, quickly thinking of all the innocent customers he would have to use to distract Kyungsoo with.   
  
“…If this kitchen isn’t _spotless_ by the time I get back, I swear I’ll sta—“ Kyungsoo began to say, turning around to threaten them.   
  
“Haha…Okay, Kyungsoo let’s go, shall we?” Yifan laughed nervously, steering Kyungsoo out of the kitchen before he could finish his threat.   
  
As soon as the kitchen doors slammed shut, Jongdae and Sehun broke into loud laughter.   
  
“He looked like he was going to _cry_ after he saw his kitchen,” Jongdae laughed, slapping Sehun’s knee.   
  
“Imagine if he slipped on the floor in his haste to kill us and broke his arm again,” Sehun shook his head.   
  
“Well, we better go clean before he tries,” Jongdae said, stepping off of Sehun before offering a hand to help him up. Sehun accepted it gratefully before they rushed to clean the kitchen. After wiping the countertops and cleaning up the floor, the two of them began washing the mixing bowls and whisks, nudging and elbowing each other as they stood side-by-side, splashing soapy suds onto each other as they scrubbed the pile of dishes in the sink.   
  
After Kyungsoo returned, evidently in a much better mood than before, and examined everything, he begrudgingly threw them out and slammed the kitchen door shut, telling them not to come back until they were ready to completely reorganize the pantry tomorrow to make up for all of what they had done.   
  
And after saying goodbye for the day to Yifan who was just about to close up early for the afternoon, Sehun and Jongdae found themselves loitering around outside. The memory of what had recently happened still lingered in their minds and on their lips, and Sehun bashfully ducked his head down before Jongdae would see the embarrassingly wide grin on his face…which was convenient for Jongdae since he could barely hide his own brilliant smile.   
  
“So,” Sehun began to say, kicking the pavement with a foot as he buried his hands into his pockets and turned his gaze downwards.  
  
“So,” Jongdae said, smiling as he bent down to move into Sehun’s line of vision.   
  
“Do you…want to go anywhere? Like…okay maybe not really anywhere, but somewhere….with me? I mean—” Sehun began to ramble onwards, a fierce pink blush sliding onto his cheeks as he fought to speak before he lost the courage.   
  
“Yeah,” Jongdae interrupted with a smile, “I’d really love that. Anywhere…somewhere…Somanywhere sounds amazing as long as it’s with you.”  
  


ϟ

  
They never ventured far from the city whenever they went out on dates together, opting to stay close within the town eating at nearby restaurants or walking just anywhere…somewhere together. Sometimes they found themselves at Jongin’s place hanging around playing video games while Jongin mercilessly teased Sehun about his affection for Jongdae while Jongdae simply laughed.   
  
But more often than not, the two of them were much too tired from work to do anything other than rest at Sehun’s home after long hours at the bakery.   
  
And during the night while they slept together, Sehun would tangle his limbs in Jongdae’s to prevent him from leaving in the morning to make them breakfast. But even though Jongdae always woke first, it was becoming harder and harder for him to find the willpower to pull himself out of bed especially when he felt so blissfully content with Sehun’s arms around him.   
  
Hours and hours could be and would be spent like this…in bed and with each other while Jongdae traced some beautiful, invisible painting on Sehun’s skin and while Sehun would refuse to let Jongdae go now or ever.   
  
When they were here…lying with no regard for any alarms or need for clocks, time was suspended. It could be today, tomorrow, whenever. But as soon as they finally dragged themselves out of the bed, yesterday’s tomorrow became today. Today they’d have to go back to work. Today they’d have to allow time to continue to fly by whether they wanted or not. But Today they’d get to keep living.   
  
Today, everyday…all the days…  
  
It was all the same.   
  
Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.   
  
But that didn’t mean it was dull or mundane because Jongdae and so many others brightened up his life always. Sehun went to work every day, but every day was new. Excitingly new. And he was constantly surprised by everything that happened.   
  
“Sehun!” Jongdae said today as he ran out to the front of the store carrying something dark pink on a plate with him.   
  
“Yes?” Sehun said, turning after he handed a woman some change.   
  
“I did it!” Jongdae said triumphantly holding out his latest creation, “Your flavor! A flavor just for you…It’s a white chocolate lychee macaron marbleized with little streaks of raspberry.”  
  
“Really?” Sehun smiled, “Thank you. It looks stunning.”  
  
“Thank you…But how does it taste? It can’t look just pretty and not taste any good,” Jongdae said, pulling himself onto the counter before pushing the macaron towards Sehun’s lips. Sehun curiously took a small bite of the macaron Jongdae offered him and widened his eyes at the taste. The white chocolate was not overwhelming, but complimented the sweetly tart taste of the lychee before the little subtle hints of raspberry teased Sehun’s tongue. And the texture of the macaron’s center was so…smooth. Wonderfully and delightfully smooth, and Sehun found himself asking Jongdae for more.   
  
“Wait!” Jongdae said, quickly moving the macaron away from Sehun for a moment, “But how does it taste?”  
  
“I wouldn’t be asking for more if it tasted awful, would I?” Sehun asked, leaning closer to the macaron before Jongdae teased him and moved it away.   
  
“You could just be humoring me. Really, Sehun…What does it taste like?” Jongdae said.   
  
Sehun paused, straightening up as he thought of how he could articulate how _wonderful_ it tasted.   
  
“It’s like…summer...when there are more hours of sunlight every day, so you have more time to spend outside basking in the light with people you love. The taste is as sweet as the knowledge that there’ll be more wonderful days ahead,” Sehun said.   
  
It tasted like nostalgia for the days to come…missing them before they even occurred. It tasted like how Sehun felt every time his heart threatened to burst out of his chest after Jongdae would smile at him.   
  
It tasted like sunset.  
  
“Wow…And here I was just wondering if it tasted good or bad. But thank you, Sehun. That was beautiful,” Jongdae said, finally feeding Sehun some more of the macaron. Sehun tasted the pastry again, relishing the texture in his mouth before he enjoyed the sweet taste. After finishing his bite, Sehun leaned over to kiss Jongdae, silently thanking him for everything.   
  
And when he finished kissing those soft, pink lips, Sehun realized that all the confectionaries and cakes Jongdae baked could never taste as nearly sweet or as satisfying as Jongdae’s own lips.   
  
What wasn’t always sweet, though, was Kyungsoo. One day Jongdae was out delivering another wedding cake they had worked on, so Sehun was stuck inside the kitchen with Kyungsoo while Yifan handled the whole front of the store. After just a few hours alone with Kyungsoo, Sehun truly admired Jongdae for putting up with him every day. Kyungsoo was brashly honest and demanded perfection always.   
  
Those eggs Sehun had to whisk? If his arm was even slightly out of position or there were too many bubbles in the bowl, Kyungsoo would glare at him and snatch it from Sehun to work on himself.   
  
The flour Sehun had to measure? If even just the tiniest bit of flour fell out of the bag and dusted the countertop, Kyungsoo would yell immediately at Sehun to clean it all up.   
  
The cupcakes Sehun had to frost? Well…if he ever got a chance to frost?  
  
“It’s too much,” Kyungsoo hissed, snatching the piping bag away from Sehun, “Jongdae let you slide with this?”  
  
“I…was just testing it first?” Sehun said, pointing to the slip of paper he was testing the piping tips on.   
  
“Oh…Oh. Sorry,” Kyungsoo quietly amended before handing it back.   
  
Sehun simply took it back before beginning to pipe swirls of purple frosting onto the blueberry cupcakes someone had ordered for a children's birthday party.   
  
“You’re…getting better,” Kyungsoo begrudgingly said as he watched Sehun worked.   
  
“Yeah?” Sehun said, surprised by Kyungsoo’s compliment.   
  
“Yeah,” Kyungsoo nodded, “But it’s still too _much_ …I swear those kids will be scraping off half the frosting after they see it.”  
  
“Jongdae does it this way. Except better,” Sehun smiled at Kyungsoo.   
  
“True. I’ll give him that,” Kyungsoo said before turning away to go check on his beignets.   
  
Kyungsoo wasn’t all that bad. He was...difficult to work with sometimes, but he had good intentions.   
  
And work wasn’t all that bad like Sehun had thought in the beginning when he first began. It was still tiring and exhausting, but Sehun enjoyed what he did here and enjoyed who he got to see here.   
  
Though no matter how much he enjoyed work, his body sometimes couldn’t keep up with the long hours and tiring tasks. Jongdae got exceedingly tired as well, and sometimes after work, the two of them were so surprised that they could walk all the way back to Sehun’s home without collapsing right there in the streets.   
  
But sometimes during those night when they were both especially exhausted from work, time would seem to cease for moments long enough to feel like lifetimes compressed into mere hours.   
  
Just like this one night where Jongdae insisted he wanted to try something new with Sehun.   
  
“Really?” Sehun said, intrigued with Jongdae’s proposal.   
  
“Yeah. How does it sound?” Jongdae asked, taking out his paintbrushes before throwing a box of washable fingerpaint onto the bed.   
  
“Sure,” Sehun smiled before laying on face down on the bed, “But if you get any paint on the bed you’ll have to wash the sheets.”  
  
“Of course,” Jongdae murmured before bending to press a kiss on Sehun’s bare shoulder before rushing to get a glass of water to dip his paintbrushes in.   
  
“What are you painting," Sehun sleepily yawned, feeling so comfortably at home and content as he allowed Jongdae to begin painting on his back.   
  
“I promise it’ll be beautiful. But not as nearly as beautiful as you,” Jongdae hummed as he carefully held Sehun’s lower back steady as he painted.   
  
“You’re lucky I’m not that ticklish. Imagine how badly that would’ve gone,” Sehun said, feeling Jongdae’s paintbrush lightly running across his back.   
  
“Yeah I would’ve had to pin you down,” Jongdae smiled, pausing a moment from his art in order to admire Sehun’s sprawled out, sleepy self under him.   
  
“Okay, but if I remember properly, I’m the one that had you pinned down a bit before this, Jongdae,” Sehun said as a lazy smirk stretched onto his face.   
  
“Yeah but that was then…So be careful of what you say now,” Jongdae teased back, reminding Sehun of where he currently sat as he ground his hips into Sehun.   
  
“Fine, fine…” Sehun said as he felt his breath hitch in his throat as the sensation sent a flurry of fiery feelings and pleasant shivers throughout his body.   
  
After a while, Sehun had fallen asleep to light touches and gentle kisses and paintbrush strokes while Jongdae continued to paint on him. After whoever knew how long, Sehun began stirring, ready to roll onto his back before his groggy mind remembered what Jongdae had painted there. Immediately he sat upright, not wanting to damage what art was upon him. Sehun craned his neck and twisted it as far sideways as he could in order to try and see what Jongdae had painted on him.   
  
Jongdae walked in with damp paintbrushes and paint splattered hands looking at Sehun amusedly before setting down his brushes on the bed.   
  
“Come…you can see it better in the bathroom mirror,” Jongdae said, taking Sehun’s hand in his and dragging him to the bathroom.   
  
And when Sehun turned his back slightly to see what Jongdae had so painstakingly painted on him, he swore his heart stopped, his throat became choked up, and his love for Jongdae was almost as emotionally overwhelming as the first time he kissed him all that time ago. Jongdae had painted a beautiful scenery of the ocean sea and the distant horizon above, tiny birds flying between the moles of Sehun’s shoulder and a little ship sailing between the dip and curve of his back and threatening to crash out from the waves and spill out onto the floor under them.  
  
As for the sky? It could’ve been the beginning of the morning or the beginning of the evening for all Sehun knew, as the sun rested comfortably, half of it peeking out of the sea while its rays lit the sky ablaze with a vibrant collision of bold orange and quiet red and timid pink.   
  
But Sehun knew.   
  
Sunset.   
  
“Jongdae…this is beautiful. Thank you. I…don’t know what to say,” Sehun said in awe, turning back and forth trying to figure out the best angle to look at it from, “You’re such a wonderful artist…This is _beautiful_.”  
  
“ _You’re_ beautiful,” Jongdae said, reversing the compliment as his cheeks rapidly reddened while Sehun continued to pile on compliment after compliment of his art, “But come…I’ll wash it off of you now.”  
  
“It’s so beautiful though…I wouldn’t want you to destroy your art so quickly just like that…” Sehun said, unable to stop staring at the stunning scenery Jongdae had painted so carefully on his back.   
  
“Yeah, but it’s just paint. I should wash it off so it won’t mar the true art underneath,” Jongdae said, stretching upwards to kiss Sehun’s cheek, “You’re so beautiful…take a bath with me, Sehun.” Sehun allowed Jongdae to pull him by the hand into the bathroom. Jongdae began to draw a bath for them both, testing the water before allowing it to fill up before they stripped themselves of the remaining clothing they wore before showering.  
  
Sehun sat on the tiled floor, making it easier for Jongdae to gently wash away the paint from his back, observing as the colored water drained away. Afterwards, they washed each other’s hair, Sehun running his hands through soapy brown locks as he playfully spiked Jongdae’s hair upwards. And after they were done showering, they stepped out of the shower and into the bath just in time to turn the water off before it spilled out to the floor.   
  
But their dripping bodies and the splashes they made as they stepped into the tub still caused little puddles of water to appear around the bathroom…Though they’d have to worry about that later because now they were content with squeezing themselves into the tub to lie around in each other’s presence, the warm water soothing them while they lazily talked about everything and anything.   
  
After the water had long since turned a bit cold, they pulled themselves out of the bath before drying themselves and slipping into comfortable clothes. Sehun thought he could win this time again, but _no_...Jongdae quickly pushed him out of the bathroom and locked it as he began wiping up the water inside. Sehun was left sitting outside on the other side of the door whining for Jongdae to let him in so he could help, but he was simply met with the sound of Jongdae’s laughter.   
  
And when Jongdae smugly opened the door, Sehun remained sitting on the floor pouting at him for doing it _again_. Jongdae shook his head and simply lead Sehun to bed, tucking him into soft blankts before he buried his damp hair into Sehun’s shoulder. It took Sehun a while longer to fall asleep, so he simply lay there with Jongdae by his side thinking of what he could do to convey his appreciation and especially what he felt for Jongdae.   
  
What could he possibly do for Jongdae after he had already done so much for Sehun?  
  
“Do something grand,” Jongin said, not taking his eyes off the screen as they played video games together once again.   
  
“Like what,” Sehun said as he punched the controller rapidly.   
  
“I don’t know…buy him a thousand pink flowers…buy him an expensive red car…buy him a ring,” Jongin answered between attempts to focus on the game.  
  
“Jongin…Unless you have that kind of money lying around and you want to pay for Jongdae’s present, do you have any better options,” Sehun said, though Jongin was right. He should do something big. Something big and bold and brave for Jongdae because he deserved everything and so much more.   
  
“Whatever…Just…give him something sincere. Something that you mean. Something that once he sees it, he’ll know exactly how deeply you feel,” Jongin shrugged before punching the air as he won.   
  
With those words in his mind, Sehun lay in his bed the next week, Jongdae snuggled up close to his chest once again, thinking of something…anything he could do for Jongdae. Jongdae was an artist, creating cakes from flour, masterpieces from paint, rebuilding Sehun from nothing after he had made him come undone over and over again.   
  
Jongdae was an artist, but Sehun didn’t really think he could just get him…paintbrushes or something. That would be far too easy…and he wanted to get him something thoughtful…something magnificent…something that would make would make tiredly waking up so early and going to bed so late seem easy.   
  
Oh.   
  
With a smile, Sehun tightened his arm around Jongdae and closed his eyes, finally figuring out what he was going to do for him.   
  
Sehun had worried about it the whole next week, and after telling Yifan and Kyungsoo what he wanted to do, Yifan had clapped a hand on his shoulder and reassured Sehun he would do great while Kyungsoo had quietly offered to help him if he needed anything.   
  
And now here he was today, after hours and hours of yesterdays working on it, Sehun stood with his sleeves rolled up his arms in front of his masterpiece, ready to give it to Jongdae. After calling Jongdae, Sehun asked him to come immediately to the bakery even though the shop was closed for the weekend. Without questioning why, Jongdae promised he would be there as soon as possible.   
  
When Jongdae had arrived, he was breathless from the cold and wearing those hundred scarves Sehun had often carefully unwrapped countless times in the winter before leaving so many pink kisses and purple marks on his neck that he would need a hundred more scarves to cover the next day.   
  
“Sehun…why did you call me here?” Jongdae said, finally asking why.   
  
“I have something for you,” Sehun nervously said as he held out a blindfold, “but I want it to be a surprise.”  
  
“Aw…Okay. You’re so thoughtful, Sehun,” Jongdae smiled, taking the blindfold from Sehun before tying it over his eyes, “But if I trip on a chair or knock over something, this will be on you.”  
  
“Shh don’t worry about it…I’ve got you,” Sehun said, gently leading Jongdae by the elbow into the kitchen. He was so aware of Jongdae’s every moment, his own racing heartbeat, his anticipation of Jongdae’s reaction.   
  
As soon as they reached the kitchen, Sehun took a deep breath to calm himself before asking Jongdae to remove his blindfold. Jongdae did so carefully before laughing.   
  
“This is gorgeous, Sehun. Gorgeous darkness we’re in,” he said, reaching out to fumble for Sehun’s hand so he wouldn’t lose him in the dark.   
  
“Oh…Right,” Sehun said, feeling ridiculous for neglecting to turn on the lights. Without any further delay, he flipped the lights on to flood the room with brilliant light that illuminated Jongdae’s surprise that stood elevated on the table.   
  
Jongdae immediately gasped at the sight of it, dropping Sehun’s hand in order to cover his mouth, feeling overwhelmed at what he saw.   
  
A magnificent five-tiered cake stood on the table before them, and Jongdae couldn’t help but tear up at the intricate details Sehun put into it all, gazing at the way the bottom tiers depicting a sunrise faded into the beautiful blue morning sky that soon faded into the starry black sky night near the top.   
  
Jongdae, slowly realizing that Sehun had painstakingly painted the sky scenery Jongdae had painted himself on the outside bakery store walls, turned to face Sehun, taking both of Sehun's hands in his as he spent moments and what might as well have been eons and eternities and infinities gazing so lovingly at the beautiful man in front of him.   
  
And all Sehun could do was grasp Jongdae’s hands tighter and tighter as if they were an anchor rooting him into the moment forever.   
  
They didn’t know what would happen, but as long as tomorrow could be as good as today and all the days gone by, then everything would okay. Everything would be more than okay, and the both of them had no other desire than to live like this day after night after day side by side together.   
  
But here was today.   
  
Here was Jongdae today, tonight, right now, right in front of Sehun with a beautiful smile and touched tears that threatened to spill. Here was the man Sehun had spent so many days and nights dreaming about. Here was his today, his tomorrow, his future.   
  
Today was now.   
  
Today was here.  
  
Jongdae was here.  
  
So, Sehun pushed all of his dusty dreams and wispy hopes of tomorrow out of his mind to focus on today, today, _today_ and Jongdae, Jongdae, _Jongdae_. Stepping closer, Sehun gently kissed Jongdae’s cheek and wrapped his arms around Jongdae to comfort him. He didn’t mean to make him this emotional…he just wanted to do something thoughtful for him.   
  
And, remembering the promise he made to Jongdae that one day in the past so many yesterdays ago, he was glad he was able to fulfill half of it today.   
  
“Sehun…this is beautiful. Thank you so much…This is truly a beautiful cake, but what’s the occasion?” Jongdae said, looking up at Sehun thoughtfully.   
  
“I…just baked a promise cake. For absolutely all and none of the reasons. It’s just for you. We’re not getting married today, but I still wanted to bake you half of those ten tiers I promised. And then one day if I’m lucky enough, I’ll bake you all ten…Is this too much?” Sehun asked, concerned if this was…overwhelming or too forward.   
  
And, as the fading colors of the sunset outside were chased out of the beautiful night sky to mark the change of today to tomorrow even though Sehun was so desperately holding onto today, when Jongdae uttered those words, Sehun felt as if nothing mattered anymore. The stars could fall out of the sky leaving trails of weeping light today, the sun could burn out tomorrow and plunge the world into eternal darkness devoid of those pink sunrises and red sunsets, and it would be okay. It would be okay because he had Jongdae here with him today.   
  
“It’s perfect, Sehun,” Jongdae smiled.   
  
Life was like this.   
  
Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.   
  
Every day could be the same, and maybe humanity would be doomed to live forever chasing tomorrows while today still happened. But in those mundane activities, life could be so wonderful.   
  
Sehun found those beautiful moments in the times spent cheerfully dodging Yifan’s teasing tickling, quietly eating contentedly in the morning with Kyungsoo, excitedly playing videogames with Jongin as they yelled triumphantly whenever they won, and suddenly it became more like this.  
  
Work. Eat. Laugh. Love. Repeat.  
  
But honestly, when Sehun was able to spend so many blissfully content days and nights loving Jongdae as he laughed with him about anything and everything at all, kissed his soft, beautifully curved lips, held him between his arms as they slept between the hours of today and tomorrow and forever, it was more like…just this.   
  
Live. Repeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crossposted from 9/2015

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted from 9/2015


End file.
